


A Call to Darkness

by Q_dracul



Series: Calling all Heroes [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Gen, Multi, Romantic Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-10-10 11:56:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 40
Words: 41,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20527646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Q_dracul/pseuds/Q_dracul
Summary: Being a superhero isn't an easy task. You're living a double life all of the time. It's even harder when you're living two double lives. What happens though, when the heart of the city's group of heroes goes missing? Will they be able to keep it together? Will they fall apart? Will the darkness that threatens to take over the city be too tempting to some as they do everything within their power to bring back the one person who can keep them all safe and sane?





	1. Halloween Party

Patton sat at the kitchen table with his brother, both discussing how their respective weekends went when Virgil came down the stairs. Letting out a small groan, the musician made his way over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup of the dark, bitter liquid.

"You're up early," Emile commented, turning in his seat to look at the younger man.

"Snoring," he groaned, taking a sip of the hot liquid in his cup, wincing slightly when it burnt his tongue.

"..snoring?" The doctor said, turning to face his brother with a confused look on his face.

"Roman stayed the night. I'm guessing he's a snorer," the nurse chuckled, standing and fixing a plate of breakfast for their roommate. "Have a seat and eat up, kiddo." He set the plate on the table and gently led the taller man to the empty seat.

Plopping down in his chair, Virgil murmured a thanks and took another sip of his coffee before starting to eat. Patton gently patted the musician's head then sat back down in his own seat. "Ro still asleep, I take it?"

Virgil shook his head and swallowed the food in his mouth. "I pushed him out of bed before coming down. I think he's in the shower right now."

Patton chuckled again and shook his head. "Was that really called for, Virgil?" Emile asked, frowning at the two younger men. He was disappointed in his brother for finding this humorous and int the musician for being so mean.

"You try waking up to a chainsaw going off in your ear."

"I don't snore that loudly," Roman said with a huff, running a hand through his still-damp hair and taking a seat at the table across from Virgil.

"Dude, I'm surprised I got any sleep last night with how loudly you snore. I think the neighbor's car alarm went off," the shorter man teased. Roman frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring halfheartedly at his boyfriend.

"I think you should apologize, Virgil," Patton said, hiding the amused expression on his face behind his own coffee mug.

"Fine. I'm sorry you snore loud enough to rival the engines of a rocket ship," he replied, rolling his eyes and smirking at the man across from him.

"Virgil." Both the Picani men said, staring at the man in shock.

"Okay! Okay." He stood up and walked over to his boyfriend, kissing him gently on the lips. "I'm sorry I complained about you snoring, Roman. You're actually not that loud of a snorer. And even if you were, which I'm not saying you are, I'd be willing to put up with it because it's nice cuddling with you."

Roman uncrossed his arms and gave the other man a small smile. "Apology accepted. And I'm sorry if I woke you up with my snoring. If I could control it, I wouldn't do it."

"Awww!" Patton clasped his hands together and held them to his cheek. The other three men looked at him, his brother chuckling and his two friends blushing like crazy.

"Anyway. I should be off. I have a script to print up and go over," Roman gave Virgil a quick kiss and stood up, stretching his arms over his head.

"Another movie?" The musician asked, returning to his own seat and taking another sip of his coffee, frowning when he realized the cup was empty.

"No, a stage performance this time," the princely man replied, grabbing the other's mug and refilling it for him. "A musical to be exact."

"Oh! You should have Virgil help you rehearse!" Patton said excitedly.

"Thanks, babe," Virgil took the cup offered him then looked from Roman to Patton and back again. "I mean, if you want, I could help you. Doubt you'd need any help, to be honest." He took a sip of the fresh cup of coffee and set it down on the table.

"No," the actor said, shaking his head. "I couldn't ask that of you. You're busy with work and whatnot. I can't ask you to put things on hold for me."

"You wouldn't be. I'm free until Saturday."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Well, you do have that thing you promised to help Olav with on Wednesday night, kiddo," Patton interrupted, chewing his lip nervously and earning a small frown from Emile.

"That's okay, I promised Remus I would help him out at the clock shop Wednesday anyway," Roman said with a shrug.

"Okay," Virgil nodded. "But, seriously, Princey. Anytime you need my help with going over your lines or anything, I'd be more than happy to help." Roman frowned slightly and nodded in response. Noticing the frown, Virgil rose from his seat and grabbed his boyfriend's hand and pulled him out of the kitchen. "Okay, Roman. Spill. What's bothering you?"

"Nothing," he avoided making eye contact with the other man, crossing his arms again.

"You're lying. What's wrong. You were fine one second and then the next...do you not want me to help? If you don't just say the--"

"Why do you call me Princey?"

Virgil blinked a couple of times and stared at the other in shock. "Wh-wha...?"

"Why do you call me Princey? I've heard you make comments before about not liking The Prince. Do you think I'm like him?"

"The hell did that come from, Royal?! No! Of course, I don't think you're anything like that pompous windbag! I call you that because your favorite song of mine is Dragonwitch. And in the movie, I wrote that song for, you played a prince." Virgil blushed and looked away.

"You call me that because I played a prince?"

"Yeah. I like you, Roman. And you're nothing like that jerk of a hero. I would never compare you to him. He's not even in your league."

If only he knew. But he hates The Prince for some reason. So, I can't ever tell him, or he'll hate me. Plus, it's just a lot safer if he didn't know anyway.

"Roman?"

"Sorry. Yes?"

"If you want, I can stop calling you that."

"No. No, it's fine. It's just I've heard that Night Storm calls The Prince Princey sometimes, and I thought maybe that you thought we were similar and decided to start calling me that. Don't mind me. An actor's ego can be quite fragile at times."

Virgil shook his head and moved closer to Roman, placing his hands on his shoulders and kissing his cheek. "Don't worry so much. I can do plenty of that for both of us."

Roman chuckled and lightly bumped his forehead against Virgil's. "I am allowed to worry, as well. How about you come over to my place tonight for dinner? You can help me with some of my lines. You could play the romantic interest," he waggled his brows and smirked at the musician.

Virgil chuckled and rolled his eyes in amusement before stepping back and lightly swatting the actor. "Go home, you dork. I'll see you tonight."

"See you tonight, My Chemically Imbalanced Romance." Roman stole a quick kiss before leaving, heading home to print up his script.

Locking the door behind the other man, Virgil headed back into the kitchen to finish his breakfast, freezing when he heard his roommates arguing.

"You're lying about something, Patton. You need to tell me."

"I'm not lying, Emile. I swear," he lowered his head and held his left arm close to his body, chewing on his lip.

"Patton."

"He's lying for me," Virgil said as he walked into the kitchen. Both men quickly looked towards him—the younger of the two looking with concern in his eyes, and the older one looking perplexed. "I wanted to do something special for Roman, and Olav is helping me. I didn't want Roman to know, and Pat was just reminding me. It was my secret, so of course, he wasn't going to tell you."

Emile sighed and looked towards his younger brother. "I'm sorry, Patton. I just got worried."

"It's okay, kiddo," Patton's voice was small and quiet. He wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to handle all of the secrets and lies that he had to keep up to keep his brother safe and his friends happy.

Virgil could see that his friend was having a rough go of it, and he frowned in concern. Perhaps he was asking too much of the other man to keep his secrets for him. Maybe he was asking too much to have so many secrets. The other three band members had no problem with anyone knowing that they were part of Emo Nightmare. They'd all agreed to keep it secret for Virgil's sake. He'd confided in Patton and asked him to keep it a secret. But, it wasn't like with them being heroes. That was a secret they'd all agreed needed to be kept to keep those close to them in their civilian lives safe from harm. Patton had no problem with them knowing who he was because he trusted them to keep his identity secret, and he wanted them to see that they could trust him with their lives. When he'd asked Olav why he'd revealed himself to the others, he'd explained that it was because he dealt with lies far too much to be comfortable continuing to lie to the group about his identity. Especially when they had to trust him with the lies that needed to be told to keep them all safe.

"Virgil?" Patton's voice pulled him out of his thoughts, and he blinked a couple of times, focusing on the man before him.

"Where's Emile?" He looked around the kitchen, noticing that the older Picani was no longer there with them.

"He has a lunch date today that he had to go get ready for. You okay, kiddo?"

"No. I'm not. I can't let you keep covering for me, Pat." The shorter man gave him a confused look, tilting his head to the side slightly. "I'm gonna tell Emile, Logan, and Remus that I'm Pryder. That will be one less secret that you have to keep for me."

"Oh, Virgil. Kiddo, no. You don't have to do that. I don't mind keeping that part of your life a secret."

"Patton, please. It's not fair to you. You keep everyone's secrets. This one isn't as important as the other one. The one you keep for more people than just me."

Patton sighed an nodded his head, "if you're sure this is what you want to do."

"I'm sure. And it's not like I'm telling the world. I'm just letting our friends and your brother know." Virgil pulled out his mobile and started a group chat with Patton and the other five men.

Virgil: hey guys

Logan: Salutations, Virgil. You are up early. Is everything alright?

Remus: Working what is it

Virgil: everythings fine logan

Logan: You both are going to drive me insane with how you type.

Patton stared at his mobile as he watched his friends message each other, a slight smile on his face.

Emile: Stop being mean, Logan. What's with the group chat, Virgil?

Virgil: Well I wanted to tell you guys something

Virgil: roman, patton, and olav already know, but you three dont

Olav: IO'm up. What do I know?

Logan: For the love of... Do you even have autocorrect activated on your mobile devices?

Virgil: no

Remus: Maybe

Olav: Typo. My bad.

Patton: Be nice, Lo! Virgil is being very brave right now!

Logan: Brave?

Olav: Wait. What?

Remus: huh

Emile: What's wrong?

Virgil jumped as his mobile repeatedly vibrated in his hand as four messages appeared on the screen all at once.

Virgil: im pryder

Olav: Virge?

Remus: your what

Logan: I'm*

Logan: Pryder*

Logan: You're*

Logan: And for the record, I already deduced that.

Logan: Remus, Virgil, was informing us that he is Pryder. The lead singer and backup guitarist for Emo Nightmare.

Emile: You are?

Virgil: yeah

Remus: and Roman knows?

Virgil: yeah

Virgil: how did u figure it out logan

Had the other men been at Logan's house, they would have all heard him scream in frustration at their messages.

Logan: The artwork. I have seen you get too upset over other artists having their work used without being credited for it, for it to make any logical sense for you to allow someone to use your artwork to become famous without giving you credit.

Roman: What's going on?

Patton: Virgil told the others that he's Pryder.

Roman: I see.

Roman opened up a new text window and sent Virgil a quick message.

Roman: You Gucci?

Virge: yeah im good just was tired of pat always covering for me about being pryder and didnt want him to have to keep lying so i told the others

Roman: And how is your anxiety doing with this?

Virge: surprisingly im fine havent had a panic attack or anything

Roman: That's wonderful. I'm proud of you, Virgil.

Virge: thanks ro

Roman: No need to thank me.

Emile came bounding down the stairs and hugged Virgil tightly, telling him how proud he was of him for letting them know, causing the musician to drop his mobile. Chuckling, Patton picked it up and messaged everyone to tell them that Virgil was currently being hugged to death by Emile.


	2. In Which Roman Realizes he put his Foot in his Mouth

Once in his room, Virgil closed the door and leaned against it, taking slow, deep breaths to try to calm his nerves. He knew there were people who didn't like his band. He didn't expect everyone in the world to enjoy his music or his style. So, why did it upset him so much that that Roman guy didn't like something about his band? Because it's easier to handle the dislike when it's not directed right to your face. Sighing heavily, he shook his head, pushed off the door, and removed his mask, tossing it on to his bed. He pulled his mobile out of his back pocket and sent a group text to Patton and Olav.

V: Feeling restless. Gonna go on patrol.

Dad: No you aren't kiddo. I told you there was no working tonight. The city can handle one night without you.

V: Patton

Olav: I gotta agree with Pat on this 1 Virge. U need a nite off.

Dad: Where are you anyway? I went outside to get you and Ro and he said you walked off.

Olav: Ro?

V: Typical celebrity mentality, built like a jock. Dressed as Thor. Has a general air of superiority about him. I'm in my room.

Olav: Oh goody. He sounds like an absolute joy to be around.

V: lol

Dad: Now hold on there Virgil. Roman does not have an air of superiority about him. He's actually a really nice person and super friendly. He felt really bad about startling you earlier.

V: Yeah. I got that. Then he proceeded to put me down.

Dad: That doesn't sound like Roman.

Olav: Want me to punch him for u Virge?

Dad: No one is punching anyone, Olav. What did he say to you Virgil?

V: He complained about my band.

Olav: Well that makes sense. It's a well known fact that u r Pryder and so u have every right to be offended.

V: Shut up, Olav. I know it's stupid of me to get upset about it.

Dad: I'll talk to him about it.

V: Patton no

Olav: And he's off.

Virgil groaned and tossed his mobile on to his bed with his mask.

Patton went and found Roman talking with Remus and Logan in the kitchen and gently tapped his shoulder.

"Padre. Did you find Virgil?" The taller man asked, turning to face Patton.

"Yes, I did. He's upset though. What did you say to him about Emo Nightmare?"

Roman blinked in confusion and shrugged his shoulders. "I just said that it was an overused gimmick and that they were cheating their fans by sharing prerecorded footage and passing it off as concerts."

"Oh my."

Logan sighed heavily and adjusted his glasses, having removed his contacts some time ago to give his eyes a rest.

"What?"

"I think you fucked up, dear brother."

"Remus. Language."

The green-eyed man rolled his eyes and mumbled an apology.

"Virgil is an animator by trade, Roman. He's worked with Emo Nightmare on the animation and avatar designs for the past five years if memory serves me correctly." Logan stated.

"That doesn't explain why he got upset. I didn't call his art bad or anything. I even said that I enjoyed the video for Dragon Witch. And I thought the band did their own artwork."

"Virgil asked Pryder to take credit for the art. Like the singer, he's shy and anxious, and he didn't want anyone knowing that he had been in contact with the band. Even though it was just over email and through their agent." Patton sighed and crossed his arms. "It's still like you attacked his artwork because you complained about something he worked really hard on." The shorter man hated lying, but he'd promised Virgil that he would keep this secret for him. This had been a story that Virgil had come up with should anyone recognize his art style and question it.

Roman groaned and leaned against the counter, crossing his arms.

"I need to go apologize to him again, don't I?"

"No. Just give him some time, kiddo."

Roman nodded his head and lowered his gaze to the floor. He had only been trying to talk to the other man and become friends with him. It seemed like he was not making an excellent first impression.


	3. Hangovers

Virgil stayed in his room for about twenty minutes before pulling on his mask and opening the door. He was about to step out but froze on the spot when he saw Patton's older brother, Emile, standing there with his fist raised, ready to knock on the door. "Hey, Em. Did you need something?" He stepped around the older man, pulling his door shut behind him.

"No. Not really. Patton said you were up here, and I was just checking to see if everything was okay." Emile gave the younger man a gentle smile while adjusting his glasses. Much to his younger brother's dismay, he had insisted on not wearing a costume tonight. So, he was there in his usual khakis and button-up. Virgil noted that he wasn't wearing his cardigan, dismissing it, though, since the house was a little warmer than usual thanks to all of the people in attendance for Patton's party.

"I'm good. Just needed to step away from everyone for a bit."

"Okay. If you need to talk, my door is always open. You know that, right?"

Virgil chuckled and nodded his head. "Don't worry about me so much, Emile. Just because I'm not your patient anymore doesn't mean I'm gonna fall apart. You were there when I needed you most. Both you and Patton. And I'm much better now, thanks to the two of you." His words brought a smile to the older man's face, and he couldn't help pulling the masked man into a strong embrace, causing him to chuckle again. "I better head back down before Patton sends Olav or Logan up here next to get me."

"Yeah. And let him know that you're okay. He does worry about you." Emile patted Virgil's shoulder and made his way down the hall to his own bedroom.

Virgil watched his retreating back and couldn't help but wonder, probably for the thousandth time since moving in with the two brothers, how he would ever be able to thank them enough for taking him in when he needed a place. His father, a career military man, had gotten a new assignment, and his family had to move to Guam. Virgil was still in university but had been living at home. He didn't want to drop out to move to another country with his family, but he knew that even with his music career just starting, he wouldn't' be able to afford his own place. Patton had noticed his stress and had suggested that he move in with him and Emile, the older Picani had agreed and told the university student that they wouldn't accept no as an answer. That was nearly a decade ago. And he was still living with the other two, all of them having just gotten so used to the living arrangements that it made no sense to any of them to change them.

With a soft, content sigh, Virgil pulled himself out of his thoughts and made his way down the stairs and into the living room. He walked over to Olav, grabbing a folding chair on his way, and sat beside the Phantom of the Opera, resting his head on his hip since he was standing.

"'Sup, V man?" Olav looked down at his friend, giving him a small smile. Virgil just shook his head and remained seated. "Going stir crazy?"

"Nah. I'm good. Just don't feel like mingling."

"Well, you're more than welcome to hand out with me for the rest of the night. Just as long as you don't touch the booth."

Virgil chuckled and nodded his head in thanks.

***

Virgil and Olav quietly cleaned up the mess from the party the night before, the former sporting a pair of sunglasses and a sour mood. "Don't ever let me drink that much again. Or I swear I will kill you."

"I told you to stop after the third shot, Virge. You cannot blame me. Be happy that at least you're not a rowdy drunk."

"Morning, kiddos!" Patton came bouncing into the living room, covering his mouth and whispering an apology when Virgil groaned and grabbed his head.

"Please, Pat. Not so loud." He groaned, wincing in pain.

"I'm sorry, kiddo. I'll get you a cup of water and some aspirin before I start breakfast."

"Thanks," Virgil plopped down on the couch and placed a throw pillow over his face while waiting for Patton to return.

"Think you'll be up to patrol tonight?" Patton asked, placing a glass of water on the table and an aspirin in Virgil's hand. "Maybe you should just let the others patrol, and you take it easy, now that I think about it."

"Nope. I'm good." Virgil pulled the pillow off his face, sat up straight, grabbed the glass of water, and took the pill. "The only one that's competent enough to patrol without a babysitter is Logic. The Prince and The Duke would probably burn the city down."

"They aren't that bad, V." Olav sat beside his friend on the couch, taking off his mask from the night before.

"That's easy for you to say, Olav. You don't have to work with them as much as I do. They're both so fucking extra. And-"

"Language," Patton interrupted.

"Greek," came Olav's reply.

"Sorry, Pat. But seriously. Those two make my powers go off like crazy when they start with each other. Last time I nearly got my head taken off because I couldn't sense any danger because of them."

"I'll talk to them about it tonight. Okay, kiddo?"

"Thanks."

Patton patted his shoulder and stood up. "I'll go get started on breakfast. You two relax."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Olav got up, walked over to the armchair, lied upside down in it, and let out a heavy sigh. Virgil let out a groan in response and fell over sideways on the couch, putting the pillow back on his head.


	4. All They do is Argue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is mention of blood in this chapter.

Trigger warning: Blood

"Shut up, Prince." The darkly dressed hero's voice held a dangerous edge to it as he slowly walked towards the man in white and red.

"Or what? I'm seriously getting bored with your empty threats, Night Storm."

"And I'm getting bored of your stupidity."

Patton sighed heavily and rubbed his hands over his face. Every night it was the same thing. He'd send the heroes out on patrol, and if it wasn't The Prince and The Duke getting into an argument, then it was The Prince and Night Storm. Logic had begged him to split the group up to minimize the dysfunction, but there was no getting around it. Logic was the only one that they all got along with all of the time. Though, that may have been due in part to his quiet demeanor. "Are you sure you won't reconsider joining them on the field, Deceit?"

"I'm not cut out for that kind of work, Heart. I can be more useful to the team by staying here with you. Logic's idea was good, though. But instead of splitting them into pairs, just send each one in a different direction."

"You may be right." Leaning forward, Patton pressed a button on the console before him and the other man, opening the communication channel between the base and the heroes. "You guys are getting on our nerves. We're taking Logic's plan of action, with a bit of modification from Deceit."

"What do you mean, Heart?" Night Storm and The Prince asked in unison.

"Logic, we want you to take and patrol the business district east of Green Road." Deceit's voice instructed. "Duke, think you can handle the pier?"

"Of course, I can."

"You are to contact Logic or Night Storm for backup if you find any trouble," Patton instructed. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," he replied dejectedly before taking off.

"Prince, take downtown. Night Storm, take the residential area."

"On it, Heart." Night Storm glared at Prince once again before taking off.  
Logic had left shortly after Deceit had given him his assignment. Prince was the last one to leave their current location.

"Heart, can we get a secure line?" Logic asked as he made his way to the business district.

Patton put an earpiece in and switched to a secure line. "We're clear, Logic. What's up?"

"Why didn't you just pair us up? The Duke and Night Storm hardly ever fight. I could've paired up with The Prince."

"The Duke and The Prince make Night Storm's powers act up."

"I see. Are you sure those two can be trusted to not screw up?"

"That's why I instructed The Duke to contact you or Night Storm if anything happened."

"Very well. I will trust your decision on this matter."

"Thanks, kiddo. Now get to work and report in if you find any-"

"Heart?" Logic frowned and stopped as he walked down the street when the man on the other end of the communication device suddenly stopped talking.

"Everyone head to 6th and Olive. Now! Night Storm needs back up!" It was Deceit's voice that came through the communication device. "Prince, you're closest. Get Night Shadow and bring him back to base. He's injured."

"'m fine, Dee."

"What happened?" The Prince's voice was a bit strained as he ran back towards the residential district.

"Nothing. I've got it taken care of."

"Stop lying, Night Storm. Your suit says otherwise." Patton's voice was stern and full of concern.

"Mother of Zeus!"

"Prince? What's wrong?"

"Heart, I lost Night Storm. He's not showing up on the screens."

"I'm bringing him in now." The Prince picked up the unconscious hero and pressed a button on his belt before taking to the sky and heading back towards their headquarters.

"That's a lot of blood."

"Duke! Lookout!" Logic sent a trash can flying past the hero dressed in black and green, hitting and stunning a man behind him with a knife.

"Shit!"

"Language!"

"Sorry."

"Logic, what happened?"

"There was a guy with a knife. I'm radioing the police now. He's probably the one that attacked Night Storm."

"Alright. Keep us posted."

"We will."

The Prince landed near the entrance to the heroes' base and placed his hand on the keypad, stepping through the door when his handprint was registered, and the doors opened. "He's bleeding a lot. And it looks like he deactivated the sensors on his suit."

"Idiot!" Deceit helped the blonde hero place the darkly dressed man on an examination bed and started to remove his shirt.

"We'll have Logic fix it when he comes back. Don't worry, Deceit." Patton walked over towards them and examined the cut in the unconscious man's abdomen. "It'll be okay, kiddo. I'll have you healed in no time." Placing his hands over the wound, Patton focused on healing the wound.

The Prince backed away and began pacing. "We shouldn't have split up."

"If you guys didn't fight so much, we wouldn't have decided to split you up."

"We don't fight that often."

"Yeah. You do. And now, Night Storm is hurt. Next patrol, we'll pair him up with The Duke."

"Not happening," came a weak, strained voice.

"Relax, Night. You're not fully healed yet."

"I'm not working with The Duke."

"Well, obviously, you need to work with someone, Panic! At the Everywhere. I thought you had spidey-senses. Why didn't you notice someone coming at you with a knife?"

"It's not..." He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his dark hair. "It's a heightened awareness of danger. But it doesn't work when I'm stressed out. At that point, everything is a red flag."

"All the more reason to have The Duke or I with you."

"Me. Not, I, Prince." Logic walked in with The Duke, sitting in a chair and sighing heavily.

"Oh, whatever."

"I can't be paired up with The Duke."

"And why's that?"

"..."

Patton sighed heavily and gave The Duke an apologetic look. "He causes Night Storm's powers to go off like crazy. Deceit, and I think it might be due to the pocket dimension."

The Duke blushed and frowned slightly. "So, I'm a problem for the Emo Racoon?"

"Not just you. The Prince is far too energetic. He also puts Night Storm on red alert."

"Then, pair him with Logic."

"You and The Duke are far too unpredictable together. you would most likely burn the city down." Logic lifted a hand to adjust his glasses but remembered that he wasn't wearing them and lowered his hand after an awkward moment.

"Record scratch?! I am not a villain."

While The Duke expressed his objection to being considered a danger, The Prince made a sound of offense and placed a hand to his chest. "I'll have you know that I am more than competent enough to handle going on patrol without a babysitter and to not put the city in danger."

"I'll take The Prince with me." Night Storm sat up and examined the location on his abdomen where the wound had been. "No offense, Duke, but that pocket dimension of yours is a bit too much for me to handle. Plus, if I go into red alert and can't sense danger, at least Princey here can jump in and not get hurt."

"None taken." The Duke sat down beside Logic. "Are we going back out tonight?"

"No," Patton said a little too quickly. "Night Storm was injured. We're calling it a night."

"Heart. You do realize that we signed up for this. Getting injured is part of the job. For at least three of us."

"I can be injured. Just not as easily as the rest of you."

"No one asked you, Sir sing-a-lot."

"I agree with Heart. I need Logic to fix the sensors in your suit anyway, Night Storm. Plus, there are some modifications to the tech that I wanted to go over with Logic anyway."

Night storm let out an annoyed sigh and rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever. I'm gonna go change and head home." He got off of the exam table and headed into his room.

"We should be leaving as well, Duke. Since there is no more patrolling to do tonight." the Prince and The Duke each headed to their own rooms to change and leave.

"Go on home, Heart. I'll make sure Logic gets out of here at a decent hour."

Patton nodded his head and walked towards his door, heading out. He waited outside of Night Storms room, where his secret exit was. Patton was the only one to know each of the heroes' identities and, to keep it that way, they each had their own room for changing in and out of their suits, with a secret exit that led to a location away from the base. Patton knew where each hero's exit was. Deceit knew where Night Storm's exit was. And, The Prince's and The Duke's exits were located right beside each other.

"Hey, Pat. I'm sorry about screwing up back there."

"Ohh, noo. Come on. Don't be down on yourself, Virgil. You didn't get injured on purpose." He wrapped an arm around the taller boy and began walking home with him.

"Thanks for healing me."

"No need to thank me. You guys' safety is my top priority. I do have to ask, though. Are you sure about teaming up with The Prince? You two fight a lot."

Virgil just nodded his head. He knew that he and the other man were always at each other's throats. Still, he also knew that if he were in grave danger like he was tonight, the hero, in white and red, would be his best hope of safely getting out of the situation. His pows also didn't go haywire around him as much as they did around The Duke. He was also fairly certain that Logic would have a better chance of keeping The Duke in check better than he would.

"I think there's some leftover pizza in the fridge. We could munch on that and watch Avengers when we get in."

"That sounds like a plan, dad."


	5. A Question: Take 1

There was a knock at Virgil's bedroom door, waking the dark-haired man from a peaceful slumber. "Unless the house is on fire, leave me alone!" He growled, rolling over and burying his face in his pillow. The person on the other side of the door knocked again, much louder this time. Groaning in annoyance, he dragged himself out of his bed and made his way to the door, pulling it open and glaring daggers at the blonde man on the other side. 

"The hell are you doing here at..." He turned slightly to look at the clock on his desk. "Eight on a Saturday morning," he growled, turning to face the other man again.

"The umm... the cinema is having a horror-themed Christmas movie marathon, and I thought you would want to attend. W-with Remus, Patton, Logan, and myself." Roman wasn't usually one to stumble over his words, but the sight of a topless, disheveled Virgil had caught him off guard. When he'd first met the other man a week ago, he'd been in a Halloween and had looked thinner. Even in his social media pictures, which he may have spent several hours staring at after sending him friend requests, he was usually wearing a hoodie that did an excellent job of hiding his physique. The fact that if looks could kill, the shorter man would have put him in his grave several times over in the time it had taken him to find his voice and ask if he wanted to join him and the others.

"...You could've texted me and asked. Or even sent a message on Instagram or Facebook," he growled.

"True, but I was already here when we all decided to go."

"Why the hell are you here so early?"

"Patton had invited Remus and me over for breakfast last night. He told us to be here at seven sharp."

"Of course, Patton would be up at some ungodly hour on the weekend." Sighing heavily, he ran a hand through his ebony locks and scratched the back of his head. "What time does the showing start?"

"Seven."

"It's eight." Virgil stood up straight, frowning, and narrowing his eyes at the taller man.

"Yes. That would be... seven pm."

"Run," Virgil's voice was deathly calm as he gave his warning. It took the princely man only a moment to get that he was being given a head start. With a soft curse, he quickly turned and booked it back down the stairs, yelling for Patton to save him. Virgil ran after Roman, jumping over the railing near the bottom of the stairs and tackling Roman to the ground.


	6. To the Movies

Patton, Remus, and Logan jumped up from the couch and ran into the hall when they heard Roman shriek in terror when Virgil landed on him and caused him to fall. Patton did his best to not laugh aloud at the sight before them. Roman was lying in his stomach with the smaller, purple-haired man sitting in the small of his back and threatening to beat him senseless for waking him up so early. Remus shrugged his shoulders and went back to the living room while Logan stared in a mixture of annoyance and confusion.

"Pocket protector! Padre! Remus! Someone get this crazy man off of me!" The blonde called out in distress.

Patton chuckled and shook his head. "Come on, kiddo. Let Ro up. I think he's learned his lesson." He motioned to Logan to help him, and the two pulled a seething Virgil off of his victim.

With a relieved sigh Roman got up and dusted himself off. He thanked the two men wearing glasses before turning to the slightly shorter man that he had upset. "My apologies, Virgil. Had I known getting you up so early would have upset you, I would have had Patton text you instead. I do hope you can forgive me," he lowered his head as he spoke and averted his eyes, a slight blush staining his cheeks. It was a combination of adrenaline, embarrassment, and the realization that Virgil was still in his boxers.

"Don't let it happen again. And as payback, I'm making you buy my snacks," he crossed his arms over his bare chest and smirked at the actor.

With a sigh, Roman nodded his head and ran a hand through his hair. "Fair enough."

Virgil nodded his head and went back up to his room. "See ya when it's time ta go, Sir sing-a-lot."

***

The five men walked over to the concession stand and looked over the menu. Roman, Remus, Logan, and Patton discussed which of the movies in the marathon they were most looking forward to. Virgil remained silent as he looked up at the menu, hand in the pockets of his hoodie, and the hood pulled up over his head.

"You okay, Virge?" Roman moved closer to him and spoke in a soft voice, a look of concern on his face.

"You didn't have to buy my ticket, Princey."

Roman froze slightly at the nickname. His mind went into panic mode about if Virgil had maybe noticed a similarity between him and his alter ego, which was the cause for the nickname. That's ridiculous, Roman. There's nothing to connect you to The Prince. Logic, Deceit, and Patton make sure no one can ever connect you or the others to your civilian lives. Just calm down. Clearing his throat, he let out a soft chuckle and shrugged. "I know. I just wanted to. Is that alright, J D-lightful?"

Virgil cocked an eyebrow at the nickname, lifting his head a bit to look at Roman.

"You know. J D. From Heathers." The confused look Virgil gave in response caused him to groan in slight annoyance. "I waste my best material on you," he sighed, placing an arm around Virgil's shoulders.

The shorter man tensed slightly but quickly allowed himself to relax. Reminding himself that they were becoming friends and just hanging out. On the other side of the taller man, Patton noticed how Roman had put his arm around Virgil and was doing his best to keep all of his squealing internal.

"Wait. Are you two dating now?" Remus asked, leaning around Patton and staring at the other two men.

They both jumped slightly and blushed, stepping away from each other. "So, what all does everyone want? My treat." Roman shot his brother a dirty look before looking at everyone expectantly.

Once they got their snacks, the group made their way into the theater and sat in the back, waiting for the first movie to began.


	7. New Toys

Virgil was sat at his desk, absently strumming his guitar and humming a random Panic! At the Disco song, when his mobile pinged. Looking at the device on his desk, he frowned slightly as he read the message that displayed on the lock screen.

Dad: L and D have worked on something new and want everyone to come and test it. Participation is mandatory, kiddo.

Setting his guitar aside, the purple-haired man grabbed his mobile and keys before heading down to the basement. He slipped behind a bookcase in the far corner of the dimly lit room and made his way down the long hall, coming out in the woods about three blocks away from the house he shared with Patton and Emile. He walked a bit further before coming to his entrance to their headquarters. After checking to make sure he wasn't being followed, he entered and made his way to his room, changing into his costume and pulling his mask over the lower half of his face. He walked out of the room and into the control room.

"Give Heart your mobile," Logic said as soon as he saw Night Storm.

"I left it in my room. The control room is a no unauthorized tech zone. Or did you forget?"

"How could I have forgotten when I'm the one who set up the security?"

"Why does he need my mobile?" The darkly dressed hero didn't have a problem with handing Heart, of all people, his mobile. They'd known each other for years. He trusted the shorter man with his life. The request just struck him as odd.

"It is my understanding that Heart knows each of our identities. He has sent out a text to request us all here, and that message needs to be deleted."

"I don't need, Night Storm's mobile, Lo. I already know that he's deleted the message," Patton walked into the control room with The Prince and The Duke, wearing his work scrubs and no mask.

"Why are you not wearing your uniform, Heart?" Logic's voice held a touch of annoyance.

"I came straight from work, and I figured that I could try the nano suit first," Patton smiled brightly.

If Patton is okay with showing off his face around the others, that means that they also know who he is. Does that mean we each know each other? He does like to introduce all of his friends to each other. Virgil looked at the other three men in the room, a slight frown on his face.

"The fact that we all keep our identities a secret from each other is a little excessive to be honest, Logic. We work together. We should be able to trust each other," Deceit walked in with a tray holding six watches and set it on a table.

"Says the shapeshifter." The Duke crossed his arms and glared at the man with the yellow gloves.

"You guys already know each other. You don't have to expose yourselves in here," Patton took the light blue watch offered to him by Deceit and placed it on his wrist. "Thanks, kiddo. Now how do I work this?"

There was a moment of silence, even Deceit didn't speak, as the other men all looked at each other. They knew each other outside of the control room? They knew each other as civilians? Night Storm and Deceit knew that they knew each other, as far as they knew no one, but Patton knew that. They all knew that The Prince and The Duke knew each other. They had admitted to being twins early in their time joining the group. No one knew who Logic was. Or at least they thought they didn't. This new information threw them all for a loop.

Patton sighed and shook his head. "I never wanted you boys to hide who you were from each other. When I learned of each of your powers and asked you to join this group, I didn't plan on there being so many secrets. Two of you asked for your identities to be kept secret, so I saw no reason not to extend that courtesy to all of you."

"I want to recant my request," Olav said after about five minutes of silence, removing his gloves and slipping on the yellow watch. "These smartwatches have nanotechnology in them. They're each programmed with our costumes, and, thanks to Logic and Patton, they scan your DNA once you put them on. They'll only work for you. No one else. They are impact and water-resistant."

"What about weapons?" The Duke picked up the green watch and examined it.

"The nanites are able to form into your weapon as needed. This will eliminate the need to carry around too many items. Since they conform to our skin as well, we will not have to worry about our masks being removed should something happen," Logic stated, adjusting his mask.

"We can also send and receive messages to each other over the same secure line that the control room uses," Deceit added, taking off his mask and shifting to his form that they all knew.

"Y-you're the guy who was DJing at Patton's Halloween party." The Prince gasped.

"Really? I thought I was the Queen of England," rolling his eyes he handed the other three heroes their watches and instructed them to put them on. "I'll walk you all through using your watches. Patton will be the first to use it, though, since he volunteered. Now, when you put it on, it will adjust to your wrist size automatically."

The other men nodded as they put on their watches.

"You should all know that these are prototypes, and Deceit and I will make them a little more individualized," Logic stated. He pulled off his glove and watched the watch adjust itself.

"Can mine be a mustache?"

"What? No. Why?"

"I swear, Duke. You are insufferable."

Night Storm chuckled softly and examined his watch. "If they're also for communicating, how will changing how they look work?"

"Oh! I can answer that!" Patton exclaimed, bouncing happily in the balls if his feet. "So, we can view text messages on these, but we can't make calls on them. Once we activate them the first time, we'll be able to hear each other like when we use the earpieces. It'll only be if we activate it on the watch, so we don't accidentally overhear private conversations or anything."

"Cool," Night Storm shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at Patton and Olav expectantly.

Once he had everyone's attention, Olav began going over how to activate the watches and how to use each different feature. After he finished going over the rules, Patton activated his watch, giggling with excitement. His clothes changed into his usual superhero attire, and his mask formed over his eyes.

"You two did an awesome job. I'm so proud of you both."

Logic and Deceit smiled and nodded in thanks. Olav then activated his own watch and, in a few moments, was wearing his black and yellow costume.

"Can you still shift while wearing that?"

"Yeah, the nanobots will adjust their size to accommodate any form I take. They'll also be able to deflect light when you turn invisible and retract when The Duke opens his pocket dimension. And Logic's powers won't be able to overload them."

"How much damage can they withstand?" The Prince asked, placing a hand on his hip.

"They're bullet and impact resistant. So, most attack damage will be easier for all of us to handle and limit the amount of healing Heart has to do," Logic replied, heading towards his room.

"Where are you headed, Nerdy Wolverine?" The Duke inquired.

"To change so I may activate my suit. We should activate them now, and tonight start training."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Virgil walked towards his room to change back into his regular clothes before activating his watch. The others doing the same.

Patton knocked on Virgil's door about twenty minutes later. The others had finished changing and were now in their costumes. "You okay in there, kiddo?"

"I'm not wearing this," came an audibly distressed voice.

"Why not, Dr. Gloom?"

"Because this isn't my costume if you must know, Princey."

"I programmed the costumes myself. If you dislike it, come out here so that I may know what needs to be changed."

A groan came from the room before the door opened, revealing Virgil in his new costume. It was a skintight black suit with a purple outline of a storm cloud and lightning bolt on the chest. The pants were admittedly tighter than the leather ones that the man usually wore. On his face, instead of a black mask covering his nose and mouth, there sat a dark purple domino mask with white lenses covering his eyes. Patton squealed at the sight before them.

"What seems to be the problem? I programmed the suits to take into account our respective color choices while not differing too drastically."

Virgil looked at the other men's costumes. The Prince was now in a white and black suit with red gloves and a red domino mask. His emblem was outlined in gold upon his chest, and his watch resembled a golden gauntlet on his right wrist. The Duke's suit was black like Virgil's and Logic's. His emblem was outlined in green upon his chest, and his domino mask was also green, as were his gloves. He sported a silver gauntlet, similar to The Prince's, on his left hand. Logic's black suit had a brain with glasses on his chest in dark blue, and his domino mask was a matching color. Patton's outfit was baby blue with a grey emblem and mask.

"The lower half of my face isn't covered," he mumbled, head lowered.

"Really? You're complaining about what part of your face is covered?" The red masked hero groaned in annoyance.

"Hey, now. It's okay for everyone to have their preferences. I kinda like that your voice isn't muffled like this, Night. But, if you aren't comfortable, I'm sure Logic could reprogram it."

"That can definitely be done. Would you like it to resemble your old costume more? Or would you prefer a slightly different look?" Logic moved closer to Virgil and took his wrist in his hand, pressing a few buttons on the screen of his watch.

"Umm... I had originally wanted a full face mask. Kinda goes with the aesthetic and mystery of being able to turn invisible," he said softly.

"That can be arranged." Logic pressed a couple more buttons on the screen, and Virgil's mask changed shape, turning into a full black mask that covered his head entirely. "How's that?"

Virgil walked back into his room and examined his costume, aside from the emblem on his chest he was covered head to toe in black. He couldn't help but smile at the sight before him. "I like it," he poked his head back out of the room and gave a thumbs up.

Patton squealed in delight and launched himself at Virgil, hugging him tightly.


	8. A Question: Take 2

It had been three weeks since the outing at the movies. Roman had wanted to ask Virgil to hang out again but with the new tech and suits just a week after and all of the training they had to do before going out on patrol again, he hadn't had time to approach Patton's roommate. He was thankful that he didn't have any plays or movies on his schedule because that would've just added to his stress and caused him to burn out all the sooner.

_I probably wouldn't be able to ask him out on a proper date until next year if I had a movie or a play on top of being The Prince right now._ He groaned softly and started to second guess himself. _What are you doing, Roman? You can't ask Virgil out. Yes, you two have been getting along splendidly and even texting more since the movie. But, you cannot think about entertaining the idea of developing a relationship with him. You're way too busy. He deserves someone who can give him their time and attention. Not an actor turned vigilante superhero who could possibly end up dead at any moment. Being a hero doesn't pay bills, so giving up acting won't do. And I can't let Patton and the others down so I can't give up being The Prince. Ughh! Why did I have to meet him? Why did he have to be so cute and interesting?_ Letting out another groan, the blonde man allowed his head to fall against the door he was currently standing in front of.

Hearing the thud, Virgil rose from his desk, setting his coffee cup down, and made his way over to the door. As he pulled the door open, he cursed softly as he jumped back so as not to be crushed by the falling man that had been leaning on the door. "You okay, Ro?"

Roman had let out a startled yelp when the door he was leaning on opened and quickly braced himself for impact with the rapidly approaching floor. He was thankful that he was near invincible as he really didn't want to have to deal with a broken nose. Rolling on to his back, he looked up at the darkly dressed man and gave him a sheepish grin. "I'm fine. The same cannot be said for my ego, I'm afraid." With a soft chuckle, he sat up and rubbed his face.

"Why were you using your head to knock on my door?" Virgil sat on the floor beside Roman and gave him a concerned look.

"Well...you see..." Roman blushed and quickly looked away from Virgil. "I umm..." _Just ask him! Like a bandaid!_ "Iwantedtoaskyououtonadate!" It was one breath, the words jumbled together and spilled from his lips as if they were all just part of one strange word.His cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. Suddenly he felt hot. Why did he suddenly feel so hot? Was it just him? Did the room seem warmer to Virgil as well? He didn't dare ask the other man, or even look at him. He was still embarrassed by his words and was sure the other would just laugh at him.

"Y-you wanna go on a date with me?" Virgil was surprised. Why did the actor want to go out with him? Yeah, they'd been getting along better. Yes, he was almost as comfortable with the other man as he was with Patton. But, a date?! Was he okay with the idea of going on a date with the other? It wasn't a thought that repulsed him. But he was a busy person. He had his music, his art, being Night Storm. Surely Roman would get bored and frustrated with him always being so busy. He was probably used to being with people who had more flexible schedules than Virgil had. Fewer secrets than Virgil had.

"Yes. I do. Though I will not be hurt or offended if you say no. You have the right to turn me down. We can still remain friends. I just... I like you, Virgil. You're cute and kind and interesting. I would like to get to know you better in a romantic sense. If you feel the same way, that is."

Virgil chewed on his thumbnail, brows furrowing in thought. Again, he wasn't opposed to the idea. He just wasn't sure how it would work out. He was almost always busy. Just these past two weeks, he'd been training and working with Logic on the new tech that he and Deceit had designed. "I...I' like that." He pulled his hood up over his head and tried to disappear in the black fabric. Why had he said that? No, it wasn't a lie, but still.

"You would?" Roman looked at him again, excitement evident on his face and in his voice.

God, he was too fricking adorable. Virgil thought to himself, glancing at the taller man from under his hood. "Y-yeah. But umm..."

_Oh goodness. A but. You got too excited there, Roman._

"You should probably know that I have a really crazy schedule and tend to be really busy a lot. I don't want you to regret asking me out, Roman."

Roman blinked in shock and just stared at the other for a moment. A gentle smile slowly finding its way to his face. "I don't think I could regret asking you out," he placed a gentle hand on the other's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I often have a hectic schedule as well, so I won't take offense if you are too busy for a date, should date number one go well, and you decide you would like there to be more."

"If **I** would like there to be more? What about you? What if I think the date went well, but you decide you don't want a second date?"

"I doubt that could happen, Virgil. But, we're thinking ahead of ourselves. Let's get through our first date first. alright?"

Virgil nodded his head in agreement, giving the taller man a small smile.

"Outstanding! Now, where would you like to go for our first date, My Chemically Imbalanced Romance?"

Virgil chuckled and shook his head. "Uh, uh. **You** have to pick where we go. You're the one that asked. You've got to make the plans."

"Very well. If you insist."

"I do."

"Would you, by chance, be available this Saturday? Say around seven in the evening?"

"Yeah. I'm free then."

"Splendid! Wear something comfortable, and I shall be here at seven sharp to pick you up for our date," he grabbed Virgil's hand and gently pressed a kiss to the back of it. "Until then." Getting up off the floor, he made his way out of the room and down the stairs, eager to tell Patton the excellent news.

Getting up, Virgil shut his bedroom door and leaned against it. "What the hell did you just agree to, Virgil?"


	9. A Failed Mugging and a Nightmarish Voice

"Prince, you need to focus," Night Storm growled from where he sat, perched on the roof of the office building in the downtown area that he and the princely hero were patrolling. Despite it having been over a month since he was attacked and nearly a month since their new suits and tech, Patton had insisted that they still pair off to patrol for safety. And, because no one trusted The Duke and The Prince to not somehow manage to screw up and set the entire city on fire, Night Storm was stuck patrolling with The Prince.

"I am focussing, Count Woe-laf."

Virgil groaned and glared at the other man again. "Oh yeah? Well, if you are, then what did I just say?"

"'Prince, you need to focus.' Duh."

"Not even close, Doctor Do-the-most," letting out a heavy sigh, he looked out over the city again. "You're not known for being the most attentive to detail, but you seem more spaced out than usual. If you aren't in the right mindset, we can just call it a night and head back to HQ."

"I'm fine, Night Storm. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"It's none of your business."

"If it's causing you to be distracted when you're supposed to be watching my six, then it is my business. Now, what are you thinking about? Because I'd really rather not risk getting killed because your mind is elsewhere."

"If you must know, I asked someone out on a date, and I'm rather nervous," The Prince replied with an annoyed sigh, glancing sideways at the other hero.

"Why are you nervous? If they said yes, then, obviously, they're interested in going out with you."

"I'm not worried about that. I mean, who wouldn't be interested in me?"

"Someone with at least two brain cells to rub together."

The Prince placed a hand to his chest and let out an indignant scoff. "I'll have you know, he is a brilliant man with an amazing sense of style and a wonderful taste in music. Not to mention he's extremely creative and a joy to be around. I'm sure you would even like him," straightening his posture, the red-masked hero turned to his partner and smirked.

"Wh-wha...? Why are you smirking at me like that?" Virgil gave the other man a wary look and stood up, taking a step back away from him.

"You are like the embodiment of a dark and stormy night. And that is kind of my date's aesthetic. He appreciates the darker, more edgy things in life. So, where would you like to go on a date?"

"What?! Why are you asking me?"

"Is your mask inhibiting your hearing? You and my hopefully future boyfriend share a similar aesthetic taste. If you were to go on a date with someone, where would you want to go?"

"Nope. Uh-uh. You are not going to get me to help you find a place for your date. I am not going to have you bite my head off if my suggestion is wrong, and he doesn't like it. Besides, if he's agreed to go on a date with you, he'd probably hate anywhere I would suggest."

"Ugh! Fine! I'll just think of something. I mean, anything I think of can't be any worse than the first date I tried to take him on."

"Wait, you screwed up on the first date, and he still agreed to go on another date with you? What is he, a saint?"

"He's a dark-winged angel," the mand sighed, a soft smile playing on his lips. Had he not been wearing his mask, the other hero would've seen the dreamy, love-struck look in his amber eyes. "And I didn't exactly screw up. Nor does he know that that was an attempt at a date. I kinda ended up chickening out last minute and inviting a few friends to go with us."

There was a slight chuckle from the darkly dressed hero that evolved in a matter of seconds into a full-blown laughing fit. The taller man just glared at him in annoyance. He remained silent until the other finished laughing. "That's pretty lame, Princey."

"Shut up."

"I mean, who chickens out that badly?"

"Shut up, Night Storm."

"That's pretty damn bad to be honest with you, dude."

"I swear..."

"You must really like him."

"I will... wait. What?"

"You must really like him. If you got that scared that you backtracked and turned what could've been a first date into a platonic outing, you must really like him. To be so afraid of rejection."

"Well. Yes. I was scared."

"Don't worry so much about it," Night Storm patted him on the shoulder and walked over to the other side of the roof. "I'm sure he'll be happy with wherever you take him. Have a little more faith in yourself. I mean, despite your personality and how much of a pompous jerk you can be, you're not that bad looking. And I'm sure you have to have some redeeming qualities to make this guy agree to a date with you."

"Thank you. I think."

"Yeah. Enough of the mushy guy bonding moment. We've got trouble two blocks over," pressing a couple of buttons on his watch Virgil was able to focus on the area he was sensing the danger from and get a visual on the scene.

"What's going on?" The Prince walked over and placed a finger to the side of his mask, zooming in on the area Night Shadow was looking in. "Well, that can't be good."

"Nope. Let's go cause a little trouble." Turning invisible, Virgil activated the flight ability on his suit and made his way to the scene.

"Hold on. We can't all turn invisible," the other hero groaned, activating his tracker and the flight capabilities of his own suit and following the other man.

***

A group of men crowded around a couple of women in a dimly lit alley. The taller of the two moved in front of her companion and gently pushed her back a bit to act as a shield. "Leave us alone," her voice shook slightly, but she held her ground.

"We don't want any trouble," one of the men said, moving closer to the two women. "We just wanna...make friends." He chuckled coldly as he and his buddies moved in closer. A flash of purple zipped past his face and hit the wall of the building to his left, causing the man to take a few steps back. "The hell?" He took a closer look and noticed that the item that had flown past him was a purple and black dagger. Looking around, he was unable to find the source of the weapon.

"Show yourself," one of the other men called out.

"Manners, gentlemen." The Prince stepped forward, his sword drawn and ready. It appeared to be made of a red metal with the sharpened blade flashing gold. Beside him, Night Storm glared at the men, a dagger in each hand. Despite his entire face being covered, the menacing glare he was giving the would-be attackers was quite evident.

"I believe the woman said to leave them alone," Virgil's voice was dangerously low, sending a slight chill along even The Prince's back.

"Fuck off, weirdo."

"Prince. Make sure those women are safe. I've got these punks."

"There are more of them than there are of you, Night Storm. I think we would do these women more good if we fought together," he protested.

"You have a shield. You'd be better at protecting them. I have the element of surprise."

"Point."

The hell are you talking about. We see you right..." Before the group leader could finish his sentence, Virgil disappeared before his eyes. "The hell did he go?"

A dagger shot out of the shadows and pinned one of the other men to the wall by the collar of his shirt. The others let out surprised gasps. While still invisible, Virgil began attacking the rest of the men with a mixture of martial arts and ranged attacks with his daggers.

While the chaos ensued, The Prince made his way over to the two women and activated his shield. "Are you ladies, alright?"

"Y-yeah. We'll be okay." The smaller woman peeked around at the hero before them.

"If you have a mobile device, I advise calling the police. Night Storm will probably be done with these men..."

"YoU aReN't GeTtInG aWaY tHaT eAsIlY," there was something about the other hero's voice that had stopped Roman mid-sentence. Looking around his shield, he tried to see if he could see the other man, but to no avail. The voice was loud and like a tempest. He ducked behind the shield again as the last of the men standing screamed in terror before flying across the alley and colliding with the wall.

"Wh-what was that?" The taller woman stammered a look of fear on her face.

"Well, we don't call him Night Storm for nothing," the blonde man chuckled, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt at that moment.

"You can lower your shield now, Princey." Virgil's voice was back to normal, and when Roman lowered his shield, the other was at the other end of the alley, leaning against a dumpster. "The police are on their way. I had Deceit radio it in."

"Very well. I'll stay with these ladies. You should head back. You look a little winded. Let Heart look you over and make sure you aren't injured."

Virgil looked around at the unconscious men on the ground and slowly nodded his head. "Alright. Head back as soon as the cops get here. Heart will worry otherwise," with that, he disappeared and made his way back to headquarters.


	10. A Worried Prince

Once the police arrived, The Prince left and made his way back to headquarters, calling Patton while he was on his way. He'd never heard Night Storm's voice sound like that before, and he was somewhat concerned. "Hey, Heart. Did Night Shadow make it back safely?"

"Yeah, kiddo. He's in his room right now. Where are you?"

"I'm on my way back. I stayed behind to make sure the women that we saved were okay until the cops showed up."

"Okay," Patton looked towards Virgil's door and then back to the console in front of him. "Is everything okay, Princey?"

"Of course. Why do you ask?"

"Deceit's out, and I've switched to a secure channel. Now tell me the truth, Ro."

Roman sighed heavily, "Night Storm scared us. His voice sounded weird."

"Weird? What do you mean?"

"It sounded like a storm rolling in. It was menacing and scary."

"...Was he invisible when he was talking?"

"Yes. Does that make a difference?"

"Oh, fudge."

"Whoa, padre. What's wrong? You don't usually use such strong language. What's wrong?"

"Night Storm tries not to talk when he's invisible. That voice you heard is part of his power. It instills fear in the person who hears it."

"Well, it certainly did that."

"I'll talk to Logic about that. he might be able to program a dampener in his mask so that his voice can't affect anyone."

"It could come in handy if we're up against a villain. Perhaps, just a way to dampen it when he doesn't want to use it and some way of keeping us from hearing it?"

"That could work. I'll talk with Logic when he gets back from patrol. You hurry on back, kiddo. I don't want you out there without back up."

"I'm already outside. I'll be in in a moment."

"Okay. See you when you get in."

Roman walked into the control room a moment later and gave Patton a small smile. He looked towards Virgil's door and bit his lip.

"Why don't you go talk to him. See how he's doing?"

"Why?"

"Because you're worried. I can see it. Go check on him."  
Roman let out an annoyed groan and walked over to the door, knocking on it. "Open up, princess."

"Go take a long walk off a short pier, Prince Underarm-stink."

"That was rather rude. I'll have you know my underarms do not stink! Now, open up. I want to check on you."

"Wha...why on earth would you wanna do that?"

"Your voice did something weird, and you sounded like you were a bit upset when you left."

"I'm fine. Leave me alone. Now."

"I'm sorry. I really am concerned about you, though. You're usually not so...angsty after fighting."

"...I'm fine, princey. Really. I'm just gonna chill out for a bit, and then I'm gonna head home."

"Alright. If you need to talk, I'm willing to listen."

"Thanks."

Roman walked back towards Patton and sat in the chair beside him. "He said he's going to relax for a bit then head home."

"Okay. How are you doing, Ro?"

"I'll be alright. I may not like Night Storm, but I do not want him to be down or anything."

Patton remained silent and just nodded his head. He wanted to tell the princely hero that the other hero was the same person he was pining after. Still, he promised to keep all of their identities secret. It hurt him to know that they despised each other's hero personas despite enjoying each other's company. Part of him wondered how they would react when they found out. He knew it would only be a matter of time before the truth came out. Another part of him did not want to know how they would react. That part of him wanted to keep it a secret from the both of them for all of eternity.


	11. A Date, a Time Skip, and a Twitter Post

Roman knocked on the door and smiled brightly when Patton opened it. "Good evening, Patton. How are you?"

"I'm good. What brings you over today, kiddo?" Patton stepped aside to let Roman in, giving him a confused look when he didn't see Remus with him. "Where's your brother?"

"It's just me this evening. If I'm not mistaken, Re is working late at his shop," he ran a hand through his hair, a light blush staining his cheeks. "I'm actually here to pick up Virgil for our date."

"Ooh. A date? And you didn't invite back up this time," he asked in a teasing tone, closing the door behind the taller man.

"I got nervous last time. This time I didn't. And I already heard an earful from Night Storm about chickening out last time."

"Well, it was a little foolish of you to ask us all to hang out when you had wanted to go on a date. But, I understand being nervous about asking out someone. So, where are you two going?"

"There's a Panic! At the Disco cover band playing at a bar downtown."

"Oh, wow. You two are gonna have so much fun."

"I hope so. I'm not much for that PG-13 music he seems to enjoy listening to, but I do enjoy watching him be so enthusiastic about music and art. Plus, I will admit that some of the music he listens to is kind of catchy."  
Patton chuckled and nodded his head.

"Where is ol' Panic! At the everywhere at anyway?"

"Last I saw him, he was up in his room with Olav. They've been up there since like one. So, they're probably napping by now," he chuckled, pointing up the stairs.

"Olav? Does umm...does Virgil know?"

Patton bit his lip and shrugged his shoulders while shaking his head no. "You'll have to ask Olav yourself, kiddo."

Roman let out a small sigh and nodded his head. "I'd better head up there and grab Virgil. If I'm lucky, he's not napping and won't tackle me again for waking him up if he is." Both men chuckled, and the princely man went up the stairs to Virgil's room and knocked on the door, ignoring the sound of music coming from the other side of the door.

The music abruptly stopped, and the door opened, revealing Virgil decked out in his usual black attire. "Hey, Roman. 'Sup?"  
"I'm here for our date."

Virgil's eyes widened, and he pulled his mobile out of his pocket to check the time. "Shit. I'm sorry. I lost track of time."

"It's quite alright," the blonde man smiled sweetly at the other.  
Virgil called over his shoulder to his friend and told him that he was heading out and that they could continue tomorrow. "Have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Olav called back with a chuckle.

Virgil pulled his hood over his head and groaned in annoyance before heading down the stairs with his date. "Going out, Pat! Be back later!"

"You kids have fun!" Patton called back from the living room.  
They got into Roman's car and started driving downtown. Virgil looked out the window and watched as the scenery passed them by. "So, where are we going?"

"There's a club downtown I thought you would enjoy."

Virgil tensed and slowly looked over at Roman, "a-a club?"

"Yeah. There's a cover band playing that I thought you would enjoy. Did I make a bad choice?"

"Y-no. No. It's fine."

"Virgil, if you don't want to go to a club, we can do something else. I honestly wasn't sure what we should do tonight, and I only picked this because of the band."

"It's fine, Roman. Really. I'm not a huge fan of crowds, but I should be fine if you're there with me," he gave the taller man a small smile. Roman blushed and nodded his head, glancing at the other out of the corner of his eye.  
"Okay. If it gets to be too much, just let me know, and we'll leave for someplace quieter. Deal?"

"Deal."

After parking, they headed into the club, which was surprisingly rather crowded for the time of evening it was. Slipping his hand into his date's, Roman led Virgil to a less crowded area. He held the other man close as the band began to play. He could feel Virgil relax as the band played, and he recognized the song.

They made it through four songs before someone in the crowd recognized Roman, and he started drawing a bit of attention. He didn't mind it much, though he would've preferred the band being the center of attention since they were the ones performing, but Virgil was starting to tense up and withdraw from him. Excusing himself from the small crowd of fans, Roman wrapped an arm around Virgil's waist and made his way to the exit.

Virgil looked up at Roman in shock. "Dude, your fan club is gonna be pissed with you for leaving like that."

"So what? They went to the club to enjoy the band, not to fawn over me. And I went to enjoy time with you, not to be the center of their attention," he smiled over at the other man, his smile growing more when he saw the blush creeping across his face deepen. "So, what would you like to do?"

"You pick," Virgil replied with a shrug.

"How about we go and get something to eat and then maybe go and catch a late-night movie?"

"As long as you aren't staring in it, I think I could go for a movie," he chuckled.

"Deal," Roman chuckled as well and took Virgil to get something to eat before going to see a movie.

***

"I had a good time tonight, Ro." Virgil shoved his hands in his pockets and stared down at his feet as they stood in front of the door to his house.

"As did I," Roman grabbed Virgil's hand, pulling it out of his pocket and holding it in his own, running his thumb over the back gently. "Would it be too soon for me to ask about the possibility of a second date?"  
Virgil looked up at him, eyes wide and cheeks stained red. "Y-yeah...I mean, no, it's not too soon. Yeah, I'd like to go on another date with you," he smiled shyly.

"Wonderful. We can discuss it tomorrow? If that's okay with you?"

"Y-yeah. Just don't call or text before noon."

"I think I can manage to remember that," he chuckled softly and leaned in, placing a gentle kiss on the other man's cheek and causing him to blush even more. "Talk to you later." He gave Virgil's hand a gentle squeeze before letting go and walking back to his car.

Virgil placed his hand to his cheek and watched as Roman walked back to his car and drove off. He remained there on the porch for a minute before coming to his senses again and heading inside, being quiet to not wake either of his roommates.

***

"Virgil!" Roman burst into his boyfriend's room, causing the other man to jump into his best friend's arms in fright. Olav, being smaller than Virgil and not as strong, collapsed under his friend and bandmate with a groan. The sight caused the actor to double over in laughter.

"Dammit, Roman! Why'd you have to scare me like that?!" Virgil got up and helped the other man back to his feet.

"I..I'm sorry. Truly. I was just so excited," he gasped out, trying to catch his breath.

"I'm gonna go get some water. And maybe start digging a grave for prince charming here," Olav said, rubbing his side and storming past Roman. The actor yelling an apology behind the musician.

"He'll be fine. What's got you so excited?" Virgil sat down at his desk and spun the chair around to face his boyfriend. They'd been dating consistently for six months. They had made it official the week before with the actor taking to Twitter to announce that he was officially dating the second most handsome man in the world (himself being the first of course). The tweet had gotten several likes and retweets and a special retweet from his boyfriend announcing that he was dating the most conceited man in all of history. Despite not liking to be the center of attention, he'd agreed to allow the actor to make their relationship official and public, as long as he made a point to tell his fans that they were not to approach him for any reason. His fans, of course, ignored this request. Virgil had woken up the next morning to over 1,000 new followers not only on Twitter but also on his Instagram (which was just pictures of his pet spider).

Roman pulled two tickets out of his pocket and showed them to Virgil with a huge smile on his face. "I got us tickets to an Emo Nightmare concert."

"I thought you didn't like them," Virgil spun around in his chair, so his back was to Roman.

"Well, I'm not a huge fan, but I know that you like their music."

"That's nice of you, Ro, but I'm afraid I can't go."

"What? Why?"

"I'm working that night."

"You're a freelance artist. You can take a night off. It won't put you behind schedule," he crossed his arms and sighed heavily.

"I know. I just can't take that night off. I'm sorry."

"I didn't even tell you what night it was."

"Roman..."

"Is this about all the followers? I told them to stop and to leave you alone," he pouted and plopped down on the bed.

"We've been dating for six months, right?"

"Of course. In fact, the concert happens to fall on our anniversary. Why?"

"I can trust you. Right?"

"Of course, Virgil," Roman sat up straight and looked at the other man with concern in his eyes.

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes. Of course, I do."

"Take those tickets and give them to Logan and Remus."

"Wh-what? Why?"

Virgil sighed heavily, opened a drawer in his desk, pulled out a lanyard, and turned to face Roman, handing it to him. Taking the item from his boyfriend, he looked down at the badge at the lanyard's end. 'All-access Pass' was written in purple holographic letters across the top and bottom of the card with a picture of the band members' avatars from Emo Nightmare in the center.

"Virgil?"

"I'm working the concert. Show up an hour before the show starts and show that badge to security. They'll get you special seating."

"Oh. Okay. Can we spend time together after the show then?"

Virgil chuckled softly and nodded. "Sure. If you still want to."

"Of course I'd still want to. I always enjoy spending time with you, Virge."

"Good to know. And just so you know, Patton will be there too. I'll make sure your name is on the list, so they don't give you a hard time. Okay?"  
Roman nodded, slipping the badge and lanyard into his pocket. "Why am I giving these tickets to Logan and Remus, though? Why not Olav, doesn't he like the band?"

"He's got a DJing gig that night. Plus, I figured Remus might enjoy the show, and Logan's such a tech nerd I figured he'd enjoy seeing the show's technology in person."

"How did I get so lucky to end up with such an observant and thoughtful boyfriend as you?"

"Dunno. I might have been drugged."

Roman glared at Virgil for a moment before shaking his head in amusement. "I'll let you get back to what you were doing. I'll hand the tickets to Patton to give to Logan and Re," he stood up and stretched his arms over his head. "Are we still on for dinner tonight?"

"Yup. Your place, right?"

"Correct. Six sharp. Don't forget again."

"Hey. That was only one time, and I had good reason for being late."

"Oversleeping is not a good reason, love."

"It is if you're the second most handsome man in the world," he teased.

Roman laughed and gave Virgil a quick peck on the lips. "Dork. I'll see you later," he left, stopping off in the kitchen to provide Patton with the tickets to give to Remus and Logan.


	12. Showtime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: There's a panic attack in this chapter. I'm basing it off of how mine are. No two people experience panic attacks the same way. If even the mention of one bothers you, please skip it. It is at the beginning of the chapter, so I will mark the ending of it with three #, so you can just scroll past if you want.

Virgil sat on the couch in his motion-capture suit, staring blankly at the floor. His heart was pounding in his chest, and everything felt like it was moving both too fast and too slow. The room was both too loud and too quiet. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly. When did the room get so warm? Why was he so warm? "C'mon, Virge. Pull it together," his voice sounded distant and foreign to himself. Sighing, he shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. He could do this. He could do this. He tried to stand up, but his legs refused to listen. Nope. He couldn't do this. This wasn't his first concert. His face wouldn't be seen on stage. Why was he so nervous? 

Because you invited Roman. Because you're about to go on stage. Because you're breathing. Because the world is rotating at fuck knows how fast on its axis while flying around a giant ball of fire. At the same time, it's in a galaxy that's hurtling through space at speeds you can't even fathom. Because time is a human construct. Because--

"-irgil. Virgil. Virgil!" A voice tore him from his thoughts, and he looked up to see his drummer standing over him with a concerned look on his face. Brown and blue eyes met with wide steel grey eyes with blown-out pupils. "Shit. Virgil, Hey. You okay?" Olav's voice was full of the concern visible in his voice. All the lead singer could do was shake his head no.

"Panic attack?"

Virgil nodded his head in agreement.

"Can I help?"

He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"Any specifics?"

"Everything."

"I'll take that as a no. Can you focus?"

"No. Too loud. Too much. Everything."

"Okay. Okay. Just breathe with me, Virge."

Virgil nodded and slowly breathed with the other man. Olav sat beside him on the couch and began talking about a random cartoon. Slowly the dark-haired man began to relax, his mind no longer on a downward spiral.

###

After about twenty minutes, Virgil was more relaxed and could even crack a joke and smile a bit. "I'm not gonna keep telling you that if you need to talk, come to me, Virgil. Don't allow yourself to get lost in your own mind. Alright?"

"I know, Olav. I know. It just suddenly hit outta nowhere."

"No trigger?"

"Yes and no. I'm nervous about Roman coming and seeing me perform. But the thoughts were all just so vague and things that I couldn't control and just random freaking facts."

Olav noded and gently rubbed his back. "Well, now probably isn't the best time to tell you that lover boy is outside waiting to come in."

"Wh-what?!"

"I came in to let you know he was here, but you were freaking out, so I didn't go back out to get him. Patton's here too."

Virgil groaned and rubbed his hands over his face and looked at the other man with an annoyed expression on his face. "Don't leave them sitting out there all night long. And where are Calvin and Zoe?"

"They're ready to go on," Olav stood up and made his way over to the door. "They weren't able to get back into town because the storm grounded the planes, but you know Zoe. She's always prepared for any emergency. They're hooked up in a hotel room and will be ready when we go on."

Virgil chuckled softly and nodded his head, glad that their lead guitarist was as tech-savvy as she was.

"Come on in, guys," Olav opened the door and let Patton and Roman into the room.

"Virgil, are you okay?" Roman walked over to his boyfriend and knelt in front of him, gently pushing the artist's hair out of his face.

"I'll be okay," he gave the other a quick kiss and stood up. "Take a seat. I've gotta tune my guitar." He walked over to the instruments on the other side of the room and grabbed up his guitar to tune it.

Roman gave him a confused look and took the spot on the couch that his boyfriend had previously occupied. Patton sat beside him and smiled. "So, let me get this straight-"

"Good luck with that," Olav interrupted with a chuckle, earning a glare from the princely man.

"You're in the band?"

Virgil nodded his head, eyes fixed on his guitar, and a blush on his face.

"And you do the artwork and avatars and stuff?"

Virgil nodded agarin. There was a long moment of silence while Roman seemed to be processing this information. Patton bit his lip and stared at the taller man, wondering if he'd be able to put two and two together. He would've liked his friends to have no secrets between, but he knew that was wishful thinking. If this part of their lives could, at least, be open and honest, he would be happy with that. Though there were still Logan and Remus who would be in the dark.

"Wait. Are you...Pryder?" Roman stared wide-eyed at his boyfriend.

"The one and only," he replied guiltily. "A-are you okay with that?"

"Am I okay with that? Am I okay with that? Am I okay with that?!" Roman stood up and marched over to the other man, eyes fixed on his. Virgil shrunk away a bit, scared that the other was going to dump him on the spot. "I think that's flipping awesome," he grabbed the musician's face and kissed him lovingly on the lips.

Virgil gripped the front of Roman's shirt and melted into the kiss. Every nervous thought that had remained swirling through his mind was effectively silenced. "Y-you're not mad?" He murmured when the other pulled away a bit so they could both catch their breath, neither paying any care to the other two men in the room.

"Why would I be?"

"I kept this a secret from you for six months. Not to mention you're not a big fan of my music."

"Just because I'm not a huge fan of your music doesn't mean I'll be mad, Virgil. And we've gotten to know each other quite a bit in the past six months. I've learned that you are not a huge fan of being the center of attention. You prefer a quiet night at home over going out. You don't like standing out, despite how much you despise conforming and blending in with everyone around you. I'm honestly not surprised that you kept this a secret from me. I feel honored that you trust me enough to share this with me. To let me see this part of your life. Thank you so much. This means the world to me, Virgil," he leaned in and kissed the other man again.

Virgil felt his heart swell. He was so happy and felt so lucky to have such an understanding boyfriend. Then he felt his heart sink and the panic trying to inch its way back into his mind. You're still not being honest with him. He doesn't know that you're Night Storm. How would he react if he were to learn that you--

"Virgil." Roman's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Whatever you're thinking, it's okay. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. I care about you. A lot."

Virgil bit his lip and nodded his head, glancing over Roman's shoulder towards Patton for a split second. The other man frowned slightly. Words didn't need to be exchanged for Patton to know what was bugging Virgil now.

"How about you let go of my lead singer so that we can finish getting ready for our show?" Olav said from where he sat at his drum set.

Right," Roman chuckled softly and kissed Virgil's forehead before taking his seat on the couch again.

Glancing over at the drummer, Virgil gave him an appreciative look and then finished tuning his guitar. The four men talked about lighter subjects, courtesy of Patton, until the tech came in to inform them that they were about to go live. Virgil and Olav put on their headsets and got ready. Walking over to a console in the back of the room, the tech started up the cameras and machinery they used for the concert. The screen over the console lit up and showed what the audience in the concert halls were seeing.

Roman had to admit that it was a pretty impressive setup. He became even more impressed as the two men before him performed. The one with the guitar seeming like a completely different person than he'd grown used to over the past few months. While Virgil was sarcastic and reserved and preferred to keep to himself, Pryder was confident and sure of himself. He flirted with the audience and was suggestive with his moves. How could they be the same man? He looked from the screen to Virgil and back again, a smile forming on his lips.

***

Virgil removed his headset during an intermission and ran a hand through his hair, looking over at Roman and Patton. "You guys want something to eat or drink?" He asked, going over and sitting on the arm of the couch beside Roman.

"I'll go get some snacks. I have to use the little boys' room anyway," Patton stood and stretched his arms up over his head.

"I'll help. With the snacks," Olav said, leaving the room with Patton. The tech followed them out, taking the time to stretch his legs.

"So, what do you think?" Virgil fidgeted with his hands and stared at his lap.

"I think I like your music better live than I do hearing it prerecorded," he chuckled, pulling Virgil into his lap. "It's crazy, though."

"What is?"

"You're like a completely different person when you're performing. Kinda makes me wonder who is the real Virgil," he chuckled.

"What do you mean?" Virgil gave him a confused look.

"Is the real Virgil the sarcastic introvert that I've been dating for six months? Or is he the confident, sexy man that I watched perform for several hours?"

"So, I'm only sexy when I perform?"

"Oh, you're sexy all the time. You just don't seem to realize it most of the time. But when you're performing, it's like you know, and you own it. The only other time I've seen you with such confidence was when I tried to ask you out on a date and made the mistake of waking you up early."

Virgil frowned in thought and then chuckled. "The movie thing? That was supposed to be a date?"

"Yeah. But, I chickened out and made it a group outing. You really surprised me when you told me to run and then tackled me at the foot of the stairs," he chuckled.

Virgil laughed at the memory. "Being tired kinda shuts down the filters and makes me a little bolder, I guess."

Roman smiled and kissed the musician's cheek. "So does performing it seems."

"Nah. If it was really me on that stage, I'd be a scared mess."

"Maybe. Maybe not. The world may never know."

They talked quietly until the other three men returned, and it was time for Olav and Virgil to start performing again.


	13. Coming Clean

Patton sat at the kitchen table with his brother, both discussing how their respective weekends went when Virgil came down the stairs. Letting out a small groan the musician made his way over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup of the dark, bitter liquid.

"You're up early," Emile commented, turning in his seat to look at the younger man.

"Snoring," he groaned taking a sip of the hot liquid in his cup, wincing slightly when it burnt his tongue.

"..snoring?" The doctor said, turning to face his brother with a confused look on his face.

"Roman stayed the night. I'm guessing he's a snorer," the nurse chuckled, standing and fixing a plate of breakfast for their roommate. "Have a seat and eat up, kiddo." He set the plate on the table and gently led the taller man to the empty seat.

Plopping down in his chair, Virgil murmured a thanks and took another sip of his coffee before starting to eat. Patton gently pat the musician's head then sat back down in his own seat. "Ro still asleep I take it?"

Virgil shook his head and swallowed the food in his mouth. "I pushed him out of the bed before coming down. I think he's in the shower right now."

Patton chuckled again and shook his head. "Was that really called for, Virgil?" Emile asked, frowning at the two younger men. He was disappointed in his brother for fingding this humerous and int he musician for being so mean.

"You try waking up to a chainsaw going off in your ear."

"I don't snore _that_ loudly," Roman said with a huff, running a hand through his still damp hair and taking a seat at the table across from Virgil.

"Dude, I'm surprised I got any sleep last night with how loudly you snore. I think the neighbor's car alarm went off," the shorter man teased. Roman frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring halfheartedly at his boyfriend.

"I think you should apologize, Virgil," Patton said, hiding the amused expression on his face behind his own coffee mug.

"Fine. I'm sorry you snore loud enough to rival the engines of a rocket ship," he replied, rolling his eyes and smirking at the man across from him.

"Virgil." Both the Picani men said, staring at the man in shock.

"Okay! Okay." He stood up and walked over to his boyfriend, kissing him gently on the lips. "I'm sorry I complained about you snoring, Roman. You're actually not that loud of a snorer. And even if you were, which I'm not saying you are, I'd be willing to put up with it because it's nice cuddling with you."

Roman uncrossed his arms and gave the other man a small smile. "Apology accepted. And I'm sorry if I woke you up with my snoring. If I could control it I wouldn't do it."

"Awww!" Patton clasped his hands together and held them to his cheek. The other three men looked at him, his brother chuckling and his two friends blushing like crazy.

"Anyway. I should be off. I have a script to print up and go over," Roman gave Virgil a quick kiss and stood up, stretching his arms over his head.

"ANother movie?" The musician asked, returning to his own seat and taking another sip of his coffee, frowning when he realized the cup was empty.

"No, a stage performance this time," the princely man replied, grabbing the other's mug and refilling it for him. "A musical to be exact."

"Oh! You should have Virgil help you rehearse!" Patton said excitedly.

"Thanks, babe," Virgil took the cup offered him then looked from Roman to Patton and back again. "I mean, if you want I could help you. Doubt you'd need any help to be honest." He took a sip of the fresh cup of coffee and set it down on the table.

"No," the actor said, shaking his head. "I couldn't ask that of you. You're busy with work and what not. I can't ask you to put things on hold for me."

"You wouldn't be. I'm free until Saturday."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Well, you do have that thing you promised to help Olav with on Wednesday night, kiddo," Patton interrupted, chewing his lip nervously and earning a small frown from Emile.

"That's okay, I promised Remus I would help him out at the clock shop Wednesday anyway," Roman said with a shrug.

"Okay," Virgil nodded. "But, seriously, Princey. Anytime you need my help with going over your lines or anything I'd be more than happy to help." Roman frowned slightly and nodded in response. Noticing the frown Virgil rose from his seat and grabbed his boyfriend's hand and pulled him out of the kitchen. "Okay, Roman. Spill. What's bothering you?"

"Nothing," he avoided making eye contact with the other man, crossing his arms again.

"You're lying. What's wrong. You were fine one second and then the next...do you not want me to help? If you don't just say the--"

"Why do you call me Princey?"

Virgil blinked a couple of times and stared at the other in shock. "Wh-wha...?"

"Why do you call me Princey? I've heard you mke comments before about not liking The Prince. Do you think I'm like him?"

"The hell did that come from, Royal?! No! Of course I don't think you're anything like that pompus windbag! I call you that because your favourite song of mine is Dragonwitch. And in themovie I wrote that song for you played a prince." Virgil blushed and looked away.

"You call me that because I played a prince?"

"Yeah. I like you, Roman. And you're nothing like that jerk of a hero. I would never compare you to him. He's not even in your league."

_If only he knew. But he hates The Prince for some reason. So, I can't ever tell him or he'll hate me. Plus it's just a lot safer if he didn't know anyway._

"Roman?"

"Sorry. Yes?"

"If you want I can stop calling you that."

"No. No, it's fine. It's just I've heard that Night Storm calls The Prince Princey sometimes and I thought maybe that you thought we were similar and decided to start calling me that. Don't mind me. An actor's ego can be quite fragile at times."

Virgil shook his head and moved closer to Roman, placing his hands on his shoulders and kissing his cheek. "Don't worry so much. I can do plenty of that for the both of us."

Roman chuckled and lightly bumped his forehear against Virgil's. "I am allowed to worry as well. How about you come over to my place tonight for dinner? You can help me with some of my lines. You could play the romantic interest," he waggled his brows and smirked at the musician.

Virgil chuckled and rolled his eyes in amusement before stepping back and lightly swatting the actor. "Go home you dork. I'll see you tonight."

"See you tonight, My Chemically Imbalanced Romance." Roman stole a quick kiss before leaving, heading home to print up his script.

Locking the door behind the other man Virgil headed back into the kitchen to finish his breakfast, freezing when he heard his roommates arguing.

"You're lying about something, Patton. You need to tell me."

"I'm not lying, Emile. I swear," he lowered his head and held his left arm close to his body, chewing on his lip.

"Patton."

"He's lying for me," Virgil said as he walked into the kitchen. Both men quickly looked towards him. The younger of the two looking with concern in his eyes, and the older one looking perplexed. "I wanted to do something special for Roman and Olav is helping me. I didn't want Roman to know and Pat was just reminding me. It was my secret, so of course he wasn't going to tell you."

Emile sighed and looked towards his younger brother. "I'm sorry, Patton. I just got worried."

"It's okay, kiddo," Patton's voice was small and quiet. He wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to handle all fo the secrets and lies that he had to keep up to keep his brother safe and his friends happy.

Virgil could see that his friend was having a rough go of it and he frowned in concern. Perhaps he was asking too much of the other man to keep his secrets for him. Perhaps he was asking too much to have so many secrets. The other trhee band members had no problem with anyone knowing that they were part of Emo Nightmare. They'd all agreed to keep it secret for Virgil's sake. He'd confided in Patton and asked him to keep it a secret. But, it wasn't like with them being heroes. That was a secret they'd all agreed needed to be kept to keep those close to them in their civilian lives safe from harm. Patton had no problem with them knowing who he was because he trusted them to keep his identity secret and he wanted them to know that they could trust him with their lives. When he'd asked Olav why he'd revealed himself to the others he'd explained that it was because he dealt with lies far too much to be comfortable continuing to lie to the group about his identity. Especially when they had to trust him with the lies that needed to be told to keep them all safe.

"Virgil?" Patton's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he blinked a couple of times, focusing on the man before him.

"Where's Emile?" He looked around the kitchen, noticing that the older Picani was no longer there with them.

"He has a lunch date today that he had to go get ready for. You okay, kiddo?"

"No. I'm not. I can't let you keep covering for me, Pat." The shorter man gave him a confused look, tilting his head to the side slightly. "I'm gonna tell Emile, Logan, and Remus that I'm Pryder. That will be one less secret that you have to keep for me."

"Oh, Virgil. Kiddo, no. You don't have to do that. I don't mind keeping that part off your life a secret."

"Patton please. It's not fair to you. You keep everyone's secrets. This one isn't as important as the other one. The one you keep for more people than just me."

Patton sighed an nodded his head, "if you're sure this is what you want to do."

"I'm sure. And it's not like I'm telling the world. I'm just letting our friends and your brother know." Virgil pulled out his mobile and started a group chat with Patton and the other five men.

Virgil: hey guys

Logan: Salutations, Virgil. You are up early. Is everything alright?

Remus: working what is it

Virgil: everythings fine logan

Logan: You both are going to drive me insane with how you type.

Patton stared at his mobile as he watched his friends message each other, a slight smile on his face.

Emile: Stop being mean, Logan. What's with the group chat, Virgil?

Virgil: well i wanted to tell you guys something

Virgil: roman, patton, and olav already know, but you three dont

Olav: IO'm up. What do i know?

Logan: For the love of... Do you even have autocorrect activated on your mobile devices?

Virgil: no

Remus: maybe

Olav: Typo. My bad.

Patton: Be nice, Lo! Virgil is being very brave right now!

Logan: Brave?

Olav: Wait. What?

Remus: huh

Emile: What's wrong?

Virgil jumped as his mobile vibrated repeatedly in his hand as four messages appeared on the screen all at once.

Virgil: im pryder

Olav: Virge?

Remus: your what

Logan: I'm*

Logan: Pryder*

Logan: You're*

Logan: And for the record, I already deduced that.

Logan: Remus, Virgil was informing us that he is Pryder. The lead singer and backup guitarist for Emo Nightmare.

Emile: You are?

Virgil: yeah

Remus: and Roman knows?

Virgil: yeah

Virgil: how did u figure it out logan

Had the other men been at Logan's house they would have all heard him scream in frustration at their messages.

Logan: The artwork. I have seen you get too upset over other artists having their work used without being credited for it for it to make any logical sense for you to allow someone to use your artwork to become famous without giving you credit.

Roman: What's going on?

Patton: Virgil told the others that he's Pryder.

Roman: I see.

Roman opened up a new text window and sent Virgil a quick message.

Roman: You Gucci?

Virge: yeah im good just was tired of pat always covering for me about being pryder and didnt want him to have to keep lying so i told the others

Roman: And how is your anxiety doing with this?

Virge: surprisingly im fine havent had a panic attack or anything

Roman: That's wonderful. I'm proud of you, Virgil.

Virge: thanks ro

Roman: No need to thank me.

Emile came bounding down the stairs and hugged Virgil tightly, telling him how proud he was of him for letting them know, causing the musician to drop his mobile. Chuckling Patton picked it up and messaged everyone to tell them that Virgil was currently being hugged to death by Emile.


	14. Training Accident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. My anxiety has been high lately and I was stuck at work until nearly midnight on Monday. So my muse took a break and left me hanging until last night. So, I'll be updating this story and Apocalyptic Morality.

"Night Storm, watch out!" Roman ran over to the other hero and tackled him to the ground, successfully knocking out of the way of the ball of fire that shot across the training room.

"Try NOT to kill them, Logic!" Patton chastised as the three heroes in the room glared in the direction of the large window Logic, Patton, and Deceit were on the other side of.

"He needs to learn to focus his powers, Heart," the stoic man said, reaching up to adjust his glasses before remembering that he wasn't wearing them.

"And hell totally be able to do that as Night Storm flambé." Deceit rolled his eyes and pressed a button by the window. "You guys okay in there?"

"Yeah," The Duke and The Prince replied.

"I will be when tall light and regal gets off of me," Virgil groaned from where he lay under the princely hero. "Seriously dude, how the hell is your hair still perfect?" He stares up at the other man in shock at his still perfectly styled hair.

"It's a gift," the man replied, blushing as he got up off the other and helped him up.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Are you two gonna kiss?" The two men quickly turned to glare at the black and green-clad hero.

"NO!" They yelled in unison, Roman's face almost as red as his mask and Virgil's, though hidden by his own full mask, nearly the same shade.

Deceit hadn't switched off the intercom, so Patton could be heard on the other side of the window giggling.

"Don't encourage him, padre," Roman groaned, looking over at the nurse. Virgil's head snapped in the princely hero's direction at the comment, and his once flushed pink face went pale.

Without even thinking, Virgil went invisible. "NoNoNoNo. ShIt! No!" Logan, Remus, and Roman all froze with a look of terror on their faces. Patton and Deceit had trained with Virgil enough to know how to handle his terror voice. Thinking quickly, the two men shut off the simulator, and Deceit ran into the room.

"Logic! Deactivate his suit!" Deceit yelled as he went jumping over a toppled pillar and made for the spot he'd last seen his friend.

Patton placed his hands on Logan's head and focused on trying to calm him. His powers really only worked with physical injuries. Still, he hoped he could at least ease the physical effects of the fear he felt so that he could use his powers. "P-please, Lo. We need you to deactivate the cloaking on Night's suit," his voice was soft and soothing.

Logan nodded his head with a shaky breath and used his powers to hone in on Virgil's watch and deactivate the cloaking. At least that was his intention. Without being in complete control of his emotions, he sent an electrical shock through the hero's body, causing him to scream out in pain before collapsing. While unconscious, Virgil couldn't remain invisible, and his voice could no longer affect the others.

Roman and Remus dropped to their knees, breathing heavily and holding themselves.

"Thank you," Patton whispered, wiping tears from under Logan's mask.

Deceit came out of the room, followed by Roman, who was carrying an unconscious Night Storm. "Good job, Logic. You saved the day back there," he said, patting the other man's shoulder as he and Roman walked by and made their way to Virgil's room.


	15. An Explosion and a Stollen Heart

"We need to talk," Patton said softly as he walked out of Virgil's room, the dark hero following him with his head down. The other heroes were gathered just outside the door. They had all been worried about Night Storm, more concerned about his well-being than what had happened to them. "We can't be an effective unit if Night Storm can't control his powers. And he can't control his powers if he can't trust all of us."

"You don't trust us?" Roman and Remus gasped, looking at the slightly shorter man in shock.

Logan sighed heavily and rubbed his temples. "If I may. It doesn't seem to me that Night Storm does not trust us in the sense you two are thinking. He obviously trusts us enough to put his life on the line doing this job with us. What I believe Patton is getting at is —"

"How much can you trust a faceless voice?" Deceit said, pushing off of the wall he had been leaning against. Virgil lifted his head and looked over at his friend. "I get it. I work in lies to keep you five safe. How much longer would you guys trust me if you didn't know who I really was? If Patton didn't know who I was?"

"He's got a point," Roman said, sighing in defeat. "So, we're really gonna do this? Going to expose ourselves? I swear, Duke, if you pull down your pants, I will run you through with my sword." He didn't even have to look at his brother to know his hands were on his pants. The Duke chuckled sheepishly and swung his hands innocently while bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Deceit glanced over at the masked man and gave him a small, fond smile that caused him to blush slightly when the Duke noticed it.

"It appears we are," Logan said, his hand going to his watch to deactivate it. The others were poised to do the same when an alarm suddenly sounded. "What on Earth?"

Deceit ran over to his console and checked the monitors, cursing at the sight before him. "Everyone get out. Now!"

"What's going on?" Patton asked, frowning slightly.

"We've got company, and they don't look friendly."

Suddenly there was a loud explosion, and a man in a black and yellow suit walked through the main entrance. The two royal heroes grabbed the darkly dressed heroes close to them and dragged them through the door of Virgil's room. As the door shut, Virgil could see Patton making his way to another door and Deceit standing face to face with the intruder.

"Exit, Night! Now!" Remus yelled, helping Roman to block the door.

Nodding his head, Virgil led the other three men out of the base and into the woods. "I have to go back," he started back towards the entrance when the others were out of the tunnel.

"You can't," Roman grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"It's one guy! Heart and Deceit can handle my voice if I slip up and talk while invisible again. That guy won't even see me coming. I can't leave De there to fight alone."

"He's not," Logan said, looking off into the distance and frowning.

"Heart is a healer, not a fighter."

"No. I mean he's not fighting. I tapped into the surveillance system. Deceit is unconscious. It looks like he tried to talk to the intruder but was knocked out. Oh, no."

"What? Is he okay?" Remus grabbed Logan by his shoulders and squeezed them tightly.

"That guy. He...he took Patton."

They all stared at Logan in shock but didn't have much time to ask questions as six more explosions sounded, and debris came pouring ing out of the tunnel they had just been in. The tunnel Virgil would have been crushed in had Roman not have stopped him.

"Olav!" Remus yelled, running towards the tunnel, causing Roman and Virgil to grab him and hold him back.

***

Two hours. It took them two hours to calm Remus. Two hours for any of them to find their voices. Logan has been monitoring the base and the news reports as best he could. The explosions hadn't gone unnoticed.

"I should have grabbed him. We can all handle ourselves, but Heart...Patton..." Roman leaned against the tree he was sitting in front of and allowed his head to drop to his knees as he hugged them close.

"It's not your fault, Prince. I could've easily slipped out of your grasp and gone after him. I saw him running towards one of the other rooms. I assumed he was safe," Virgil gently rubbed Roman's back, trying to comfort him.

"He's still alive, Duke," Logan's voice was soft and held emotion that his face refused to show. Remus looked towards him silently. "He's in critical condition, but he is alive."

Virgil's head shot up, and he looked over towards Remus. "Duke...?"

Remus wandered away from the others a bit and was leaning against a tree crying.

"Leave him," Roman said quietly. "He needs to calm down, or a dimension will open up, and god only knows what horrors he'll unleash."

Remus deactivated his suit and collapsed on the forest floor. Another twenty minutes passed before anyone spoke. "I have to go see him," the dark-haired man slowly stood up and turned towards the other heroes. "Where is he, Logic?"

"We'll all go. We can't let you go alone. Not like this."

"My boyfriend was nearly murdered, and our friend was kidnapped. How else am I supposed to be, nerdy wolverine!"

Virgil looked at Remus in shock and then turned to look at the princely hero beside him. "Roman?"

Looking from his brother to Night Storm, The Prince let out a heavy sigh. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours." They both have a curt nod and deactivated their suits.

Virgil was the first to move, backing away from his boyfriend with a look of horror on his face. Roman's eyes were wide with shock.

"How many secret identities do you have, man?!"

"Fuck me."

"Well, not here or right now. We have more important matters to tend to," Roman looked over at Logic and rolled his eyes. "Is it safe to assume you're Logan Accorsi?"

Logan nodded and deactivated his suit. "Since we now all know each other and there is no need for formal introductions, should we get going? If my calculations are correct, it won't take the firefighters much time to excavate the rubble and find this entrance. I don't think any of us is quite ready to be discovered by the general public just yet." They all nodded in agreement. And followed him out of the woods.


	16. A Walk in the Woods

Roman slowed his pace so that he was walking beside Virgil as the four men made their way into town. "So, you hate me."

"What!? No! Why...?!" Virgil sighed heavily and lowered his head, his bangs falling into his eyes. "It's just, I didn't know who you were. And you and Remus are both so extra as The Prince and The Duke. It was annoying."

"You don't need to explain yourself, Virgil. I'm not mad."

"You aren't?"

"No," Roman chuckled. "How could I be? I hate Night Storm. Or at least who you are when you're him. When we're wearing those masks, we only show a small part of ourselves. It may not be the best of ourselves, but it's the part of ourselves that we need for the job that we do." Virgil looked at him in awe. He'd never considered that they were putting on an act when they put on the masks. "Night Storm is only a small part of who you are, love, just like Pryder is a small part of you. Together, with who you are without the mask or guitar and avatar, they make up who you really are. The man that I love," Roman blushed at the admission of his feelings.

Virgil nodded in understanding. "When you love someone, you take the good with the bad. In your case, it's taking the Prince with the Roman."

"I'm not really that bad as The Prince. Am I?"

"You're pretty insufferable." Logan chimed in.

"Shut up, nerdy Wolverine."

Virgil chuckled softly.

"And that way of thinking is toxic and outdated, Virgil. You should not have to put up with someone's terrible behaviors for the sake of love."

"I don't mean it like that, Logan. I mean, obviously, if Ro treated me like shit, I'd drop kick his ass to the curb. I mean..." he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I mean like I love him. So I'm gonna accept that he's extra more extra while in costume. I can probably focus my powers more now that I'm not nervous, not knowing who he is. With Remus, it'll still be hard, though, because of the whole portal thing. Which is weird considering that when he's not in costume, my senses don't go all crazy."

"It's because I keep them sealed up when I'm not in costume. If I'm allowing myself to use them I can't keep the barriers up, and I have a greater risk of letting something out accidentally."

"Oh."

"Plus, he's more reckless in costume."

"Shut up, Romulus."

Roman stopped walking and made an offended noise, glaring at his twin. "You swore you never use that name again!" He growled as he started walking again.

"Romulus?" Logan said the name as if it were foreign on his tongue. "Oh, goodness! Did your parents actually name you two Romulus and Remus after the myth about the founding of the Roman Empire?"

"Someone get the nerd a cookie," Remus said in an annoyed tone.

"I go by Roman only now. Too many jokes about being raised by wolves."

"Less talkie. More walkie," Remus barked, making his way up a steep incline that would lead them out of the woods.

The others fell silent and watched him. None of them had seen their friend so serious before. Though, none of them could blame him. His friend was kidnapped, and his boyfriend was hospitalized and in critical condition. Virgil and Roman both knew they would react the same way if they had been in Remus' situation. While he was admittedly aromantic, Logan knew that he too would be just as upset as Remus. He knew, though, that at this moment, he had to be the voice of reason in the group. Remus was too emotionally connected. They all were. Olav and Patton had been Virgil's best friends and confidants for years. Patton was like a second father to all of them. Roman was the only one besides Logan without a direct emotional connection to Olav. Still, he did have an emotional connection to the man's boyfriend. He had commented on numerous occasions that he would go to hell and back for his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the past few chapters have been short. I’m getting close to my moving day and am doing all of my typing on my mobile. I promise that the next chapter will clear 1,000 words.  
Also, we’re 25% done with A Call to Darkness as of the last chapter! This book has been planned at being 40 chapters long.


	17. Hospital Visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning. There's a lot of strong language in this chapter.

When they arrived at the hospital, Logan spoke to the receptionist while Roman and Virgil tried to keep Remus calm. The last thing they needed was for him to suddenly have tentacles come out of his mouth or stomach or something while in the middle of the hospital and attack people.

"He'll be fine, Remus. You just need to calm down right now, though. You can do nothing for Olav if you've worked yourself into a frenzy," Roman said, placing his hands on his brother's shoulders and gently guiding him to an empty seat to sit down. Virgil sat beside him and gently rubbed small circles on his back to try and help soothe him.

"But what if he's not, Roman. What if he... what if he..."

"Hey. Leave the what if's to be okay? My anxiety disorder is big enough to manage panicking for all of us," Virgil said in a stern, yet teasing tone. Roman looked over at his boyfriend with concern in his eyes. He'd been so worried about Remus that he hadn't even stopped to think about how the other man was handling things. The look didn't go unnoticed by Virgil, and he gave his boyfriend a reassuring smile. "I'll be alright, princey."

"He still hasn't woken up, but they've upgraded him to stable condition," Logan informed them as he walked over.

"They just gave you his information?" Virgil frowned.

"Well, yes. Why would they not inform his emergency contact about his condition?"

"Wait. What?" Roman stood up and stared down at the shorter man in confusion.

"I may have corrected some information in his records and listed each of us as either an emergency contact or next of kin for Olav as he had none listed other than Virgil and Patton," Logan spoke in a hushed voice and adjusted his glasses.

"Isn't that illegal?" Remus asked quietly.

"Only if I get caught."

"Are we sure he's not a villain?" Roman whispered to Virgil, causing the musician to chuckle.

"Anyway," Logan glared at Roman. "They will only allow one of us back there with him. I think it would be best if Remus were the one to go as I am sure they would both be quite pleased to see each other when he wakes up. That is not to invalidate your relationship with him, Vir--"

Virgil held up a hand and shook his head, cutting Logan off. "I agree with you. Remus will be more at ease sitting by Olav's side than he would be going with us to look for Patton."

Remus thanked him and went over to the receptionist to be directed to Olav's room.

"Who said we were going to look for Patton?" Logan said, staring at the other man.

"I did," Virgil stood up and straightened his hoodie. "The brain and the heart are the two most important parts for any living organism. Our brain is in good hands. Now we go and get our heart back." He pushed past Logan and made for the exit.

"Virgil, wait up," Roman called after his boyfriend as he and Logan hurried after him. "We don't even know where to begin our search. We have no leads or anything. We should just give it a day and report him missing to the police."

Virgil stopped in his tracks and turned to face Roman and Logan, causing both men to freeze in their tracks and look in terror at the cold look in his eyes. Neither of them had ever seen a look so dark in the other man's eyes before. Not as Night Storm and certainly not as Virgil. "I will not sit by with my thumbs up my ass while Patton is being subjected to god only knows what at the hands of that fucker!"

"Virgil..." Roman stepped forward and pulled the darker hero into a gentle embrace. "How will we find him if we don't even know where to look? No idea who we are up against. Think about this logically."

Virgil pushed away from Roman and shook his head. "I can't sit and do nothing, Roman."

"May I offer a compromise that may appease you both?" Logan said from where he stood, staring off into the distance.

"What is it?" Virgil said skeptically.

Logan blinked a couple of times and looked back at the both of them. "We search for Patton for the next forty-eight hours. If we don't find him, we report him missing to the police. I recommend forty-eight as that is the legal requirement before filing a missing person's report for an adult. While the police look for him, we continue to search. Will that be agreeable to you both."

Virgil and Roman both nodded his heads.

"Excellent. Now, from what I could tell from the footage, we're looking for a man about the same height and build as Olav. The right side of his face is covered in scales. Other than that, I can't tell any other details about him. It also appears that he disabled the external cameras before he blew up the tunnels and absconded with our friend."

"Then we start back at the base," Virgil took off, heading in the direction of an abandoned alley before activating his suit. The other two followed along and did the same. The three heroes then made their way back to their now-destroyed base.

***

Remus sat beside Olav's bed and gently held his hand, unshed tears burning his eyes as he silently prayed for the other man to wake up.

***

"Let me go!" Patton yelled at the man that had kidnapped him, fighting against the restraints that bound him to a chair in the middle of what looked to be an abandoned warehouse.

"Do you ever sssshhhhut up?" The man hissed, walking towards the hero.

"My friends are gonna find me. And when they do, they're gonna kick your bum. And Santa knows what you did, and he's not to please either. So guess who is getting coal in their stocking this year, mister. You are. That's who."

The man chuckled and shook his head in amusement. "You are far too adorable and sssweet for your own good, Patton Picani. I do hope your friendssss find me. Mainly I want two friendssss of yoursss, in particular, to sssshhhow up for you." He leaned in close and caused Patton to lean back and almost topple his chair in an attempt to put some distance between himself and the villainous man before him. "Careful. We don't want you getting hurt," he grabbed the chair and steadied it. "Not yet, anyway." He turned and walked away from Patton with a sinister chuckle, leaving him to silently cry in fear for himself and the other heroes.


	18. Hours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was sitting at work when it suddenly dawned on me that I obviously can't count because 15 is NOT 25% of 40. That would be 10. And my lovely muse, Orion, happily chastised me for that mistake. Though, in my defence, I've been dealing with anxiety, moving, and a serious lack of caffeine in my diet.  
But yes, we are nearing the halfway mark of this book.  
Want to let those reading know that there will be a sequel and five prequels once this one is done.

48 hours since Patton was taken:

Virgil and Emile sat at the kitchen table with Detective Remington O'Hearn.

"Okay, babes. When was the last time you saw the missing person? And what were they wearing?"

"Patton," Virgil's voice was hoarse as he'd spent the night before screaming in frustration when he and the other heroes had failed to find any clues to Patton's location. Wherever he was, his watch wasn't even able to send out a signal, and Logan couldn't track it with his powers.

"I'm sorry?" The detective took his sunglasses off his face and perched them atop his head.

"His name is Patton. And we saw him two days ago. He was wearing his scrubs from work. I met up with him so we could meet up with some friends for dinner."

"Right. Sorry. Why didn't you two come home together if you live in the same house?"

"My boyfriend asked if I wanted to have a movie marathon with him, so I went home with him. I had no reason to think Patton wouldn't make it home. This is all my fault. I'm so sorry, Emile."

"No, Virgil. It's okay. If I were in your position, I would've thought nothing of sending Patton home alone either. He may be a sweet little puffball, but he can be tough and handle himself when he needs to."

"Can I get the names of your friends, please, Mr. Winslow? And you alibi for that night. Yours as well, Dr. Picani."

"Virgil wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"Calm down, Em. It's okay. Just protocol. Right, detective?"

Remy nodded his head and clicked his pen so he could write the information down.

"Remus and Roman Royal, and Logan Accorsi. We were at Logan's house for dinner. And my boyfriend is Roman Royal."

Remy nodded and wrote the information down in his notes.

"Virgil!" Roman burst into the kitchen, Logan close on his heels. "Have you heard anything?"

Remy looked over at the two men, the shorter one seeming very winded. Emile stood up and got Logan a glass of water and forced him to sit at the table.

"No," Virgil shook his head. "Uhh... Roman, Loan, this is Detective O'Hearn with missing persons."

"Remy, please."

"Greetings."

"Salutations."

"I'd like to ask you two a couple of questions about the night Mr. Picani went missing. Just so we can get a baseline of events and figure out where to start our search. I'm also going to need Remus' contact information, Virgil."

The musician nodded and pulled out his mobile to get the number for the detective. They'd all discussed their story, and Roman had gone over it with Remus. So, Virgil had no fear that they would be found out. That's not to say things wouldn't still have been much easier if Olav was conscious.

72 hours since Patton was taken:

"Virgil, you need to get some sleep," Roman walked over to his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close.

"I can't, Roman. I've gotta find Patton."

"We will find him. But, you should still need your sleep." Roman lifted the smaller man bridal style and carried him over to his bed and lay him down, climbing in beside him and curling up. "I promise you, Virgil. We will find Patton and bring him home safe and sound."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Ro. Thanks anyway, though."

***

Logan hadn't slept in nearly two days. He needed to find Patton. He needed to find the person who had taken him and hurt his friends. He wasn't good at dealing with emotions. He had somehow been thrust into the role of being an emotional support for the four other men. Well, technically, it was only three others as Olav was still unconscious.

***

Remus had to be forced to leave Olav's side to take care of himself, after three nights of sitting vigil at his bedside. He decided to grab a coffee and check on his shop since it wasn't too far from the hospital. While there, he would give that detective that had left him a voicemail to call.

Unlocking the door to the small shop located between two larger buildings, he pulled up the detective's number and called.

"Remy."

"Umm...Hi. I'm trying to get ahold of Detective O'hearn. He asked me to return his call at my earliest convenience."

"That's me. You can call me Remy. Who's calling?"

"My name is Remus Royal. You wanted to talk to me about Patton Picani."

"Remus, babe. Thanks for returning my call. Do you, by chance, have some time where we can sit face to face and talk?"

Babe?! Is this guy for real? Are cops even allowed to talk like that? "Yeah. I'm actually free right now. I was sitting with my boyfriend, but they kinda made me leave for the day to get some rest." He took a sip of his coffee and started turning on the lights in his shop.

"Great. Where are you?"

"I'm at my shop. It's located on fifth and main. Back Alley Clock Doctor."

"Great. I'll be there in twenty."

"Okay. I'll be here."

168 hours since Patton was taken:

Patton sat on a cot in the room that his kidnapper had locked him in after the fifth day. Silent tears ran down his cheeks as he stared at the wall. He knew his friends were worried sick about him. That bothered him more than any other part of his situation, really. Well, that, and the fact that he didn't know how badly the guy had hurt Olav. That's what had gotten him caught. He was closer to his room than to Virgil's, so while Roman and Remus had grabbed Logan and Virgil and ran for the darker heroes room, Patton had run for his door. At the same time, Deceit tried to stop the intruder. As soon as his door closed, he heard his friend cry out in pain. Concerned for his safety, he'd stupidly opened his door and ran over to help him, only to be knocked out and captured.

"How are you doing today, Patton?"

He looked up to see the snake faced man walk into the room with a tray of food.

"Who are you? Why am I here?" How many times had he asked these questions and not gotten an answer? Why did he think this time would be any different.

"When Olav getssss here, you can assssk him why you're here. Now eat. You need your strength," he set the tray down on the bed and left.

When Olav gets here? What does he have to do with this?

***

Remus: Guys! Olav's awake! He finally woke up!

Virgil: What That's great

Logan: Please use punctuation, Virgil. And I must agree that that is wonderful news that Olav has woken up.

Roman: Awesome. How is he doing?

Remus: Okay. Despite being out cold for an entire week he is insistent on leaving.

Roman: How long are the doctors gonna want to keep him?

Remus: They said another three days.

Logan: It is best he listens to their directions.

Olav: You can all go to hell. I'm blowing this popsicle stand.

Virgil: Who gave him his phone?

Remus: Guilty

Logan: His phone.

Olav: What about my phone?

Logan: Not yours. Patton's.

Virgil: I haven't been able to track it with the find my friend app. I think it might be off.

Logan: Yes, but I have handled his mobile device enough times that if he's anywhere in this city, still, I can use my powers to turn it on, and we can search for it again.

Roman: Not to be a Debby Downer, but you weren't able to track his watch. How will his mobile be different?

Logan: Because I may or may not have planted a bug in his phone.

Virgil: You bugged his phone!

Logan: I was concerned about his safety. He knows about it.

Olav: What's going on?

Virgil: The guy that knocked you out took Patton and blew up our base.

Roman: Fear not. We shall rescue our beloved Patton and avenge you both.

Remus: Uh guys

Logan: What seems to be the matter, Remus?

Remus: I was heading back to Olav's room and he's gone.

Virgil: WHAT

Roman: Oh for the love of

Logan: I'll go and pick up Roman and Virgil and then swing by the hospital to pick you up, Remus.


	19. All of the Players

A ding sounded from the man's pocket as he closed and locked the door his captive was being held in. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and read the message that the notification had alerted him to.

O: Call me

He unlocked the device with a smirk and called the messenger and placed the device to his ear.

"Olav. Long time no ssssee."

"Cut the crap, Bedrag. Why did you attack us? Where is Patton?"

"Your friend isss ssssafe... for now. I sssstill have need for him."

"What do you mean?"

Bedrag walked over to the computer he had set up and typed in his password to unlock it. "I mean, I have planssss and your beloved Patton isss going to help me with them."

"Whatever it is you need help with, leave Patton out of it. I'll trade you. Me for him."

"Where'sssss the fun in that, Decccceit?"

"Bedrag, please. What do you want from me?"

"To ssssee you ssssuffer," he opened a folder in his computer and then proceeded to look through the files he had within it. "I think the besssst way to do that will be with the help of your little friend, Night Sssstorm, or ssshhhould I assay Virgil. And that handssssome Duke. Remusssss wassss it?"

"Leave them out of this, Bedrag."

"Ssssuffer," he hung up the phone and smirked as he looked at the two files open on his computer screen.

**Name:** Virgil Winslow

**Born:** July 15, 2221

**Gender:** Male

**Height:** 6'

**Hair/Eye Colour:** Black & purple/Grey

**Build:** Slim, but toned

**Visible Scars/Tattoos/Other markings: **Light scars from defensive wounds and possible self-inflicted wounds. Both ears pierced. No visible tattoos.

**Employment:** Musician and freelance animator

**Aliases:** Pryder, Night Storm

**Powers:** Invisibility, ability to instill fear in those around him with just his voice, heightened sense of danger, increased agility (may or may not be a power)

**Weapons:** Daggers

**Weaknesses:** Prone to anxiety attacks, Patton

**Accomplices:** Roman Royal, Remus Royal, Olav Layton, Logan Accorsi, Patton Picani

**Notes:**

\- Born to Cathrine and Tony Ngyuen

\- Orphaned at age eight when parents died in a hurricane

\- Adopted by his godparents Edgar and David Winslow

\- Discovered his powers when he was ten

\- Has anxiety

\- Aside from his anxiety disorder seems to be in perfect physical and mental health

\- With some practice, he should be able to control his other powers

\- Doesn't trust easily

**Name:** Remus Royal

**Born:** March 21, 2219

**Gender:** Male

**Height:** 6'3"

**Hair/Eye Colour:** Black with a white forelock/Green

**Build:** lanky

**Visible Scars/Tattoos/Other markings: **None

**Employment:** Watchmaker (owns a shop called Back Alley Watch Doctor)

**Aliases:** The Duke

**Powers:** Pocket dimensions

**Weapons:** A mace

**Weaknesses:** His emotions make it harder for him to control the dimensions, Olav

**Accomplices:** Roman Royal, Virgil Winslow, Olav Layton, Logan Accorsi, Patton Picani

**Notes:**

\- Seems mentally unstable (a possible side effect of his powers)

\- Would probably watch the city burn if given the opportunity

\- Will be the easiest to manipulate

Bedrag looked over the information he spent months gathering on the two heroes that he needed to enact his plan. He had already gotten the bate. Now he just needed to lure them in. One at a time would be his best bet. And he knew exactly who the first hero would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter. Sorry. We're getting closer to the end. And I don't wanna write it. Ugh. Next chapter will mark the halfway point of this book. I'll probably make it a happy fluff filled piece because, seriously, it's all down hill from there.


	20. Holiday Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because things are about to go downhill here is a chapter full of happy holiday memories from after the Halloween party.

_Thanksgiving_

"Patton, I think you've baked enough sweets. You aren't feeding an army," Emilie said from where he sat at the table, chopping celery.

"I know, but I wanna make sure that there's enough to go around." He pulled his fifth pie out of the oven and set it on a cooling rack. "Oven's all yours, Virgil!" He called to his roommate.

"Thanks, Pat," Virgil walked into the kitchen and washed his hands before getting the turkey out of the fridge and getting it seasoned and ready to go in the oven. "What all is everyone fixing?"

"I made pies, cakes, and cookies. Emile is making stuffing and cheddar broccoli. Logan said he would be bringing an Irish potato salad since it was the only thing he could cook without burning it. Roman said he would bring wine and homemade bread rolls. Remus said he'd be bringing green bean casserole and macaroni and cheese. And you said you've got the turkey, Garvey, and mashed sweet potatoes."

"Okay. Do you mind opening the oven for me, Patton?" Virgil made his way over to the oven with the bird sitting in a roasting pan ready to be baked. Patton nodded and opened the oven for him. "Thanks," Virgil slid the bird into the oven and set a timer before getting the sweet potatoes ready to be cooked.

Several hours later, the men all sat around the table laughing, joking and enjoying the food they all helped prepare.

"We should make a habit of doing this every year, Patton. This is the best Thanksgiving I've ever had," Olav said.

"I agree," Virgil said, taking a sip of his water.

"Such a ritual would be satisfactory," Logan added.

Roman, Remus, and Emile all nodded in agreement.

"I guess it's unanimous. We'll get together and do this again next year," Patton smiles at his brother and friends happily.

***

_Christmas_

Virgil lay across the couch playing a video game while Patton and Emile worked together in a puzzle. "What time do you have to leave for work, dad?" He asked the nurse, not taking his eyes off of the game.

"I'm working the overnight shift. So, I don't have to leave until about six. What time is Roman picking you up?"

"Were gonna head out at around two. He said he's gotta pick up our costumes first. Sure, you don't wanna join us to visit the kids at the hospital, Em?"

"I'd love to, but I'm on call today. A lot of my patients get really down during the holidays, and some don't feel comfortable calling the crisis line, so I stay near my phone for them." Emile smiled at his roommate.

"What costumes are you guys gonna wear?" Patton asked, turning his attention from the puzzle to the musician.

"Remus is gonna be the grinch. I think Roman said he was going to grab a Jack Skellington costume for me. He was gonna dress up as Santa. Logan said he was going to dress up as the 11th Doctor. I swear he just tries to find any costume that requires as little effort as humanly possible."

Patton chuckled and nodded his head. "He does tend to avoid most conventional costume choices. I think the kids will enjoy you guys being there all the same."

"Yeah. I'm sure they will."

"Isn't Olav going with you guys?"

"No, he's in Norway until the second. He's spending some time with the nuns at the orphanage he grew up in and helping out with the kids."

***

_New Years_

Roman wrapped his arms around Virgil, pulling him back against his chest, and rested his chin on the other man's shoulder. "How're you handling things?"

"I'm okay. Thanks for asking," Virgil took a sip of his champagne and turned his head to press a gentle kiss to the actor's cheek. "Thanks for inviting me to this party."

"Thanks for agreeing to come. I know you aren't a huge fan of crowds."

"It's a little more bearable with you by my side," he admitted, blushing.

"That's good to know."

Virgil turned in Roman's arms and smiled up at him. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Of course, I am. How could I not be? I'm here with the second most handsome man in the city."

"Oh? Who's the first? Might have to fight him to make sure I don't lose you to him."

"That's highly unlikely, My Chemically Imbalanced Romance."

"Why's that?"

"Because I'm the first and we haven't perfected human cloning yet," Roman smirked.

Virgil pushes the princely man away and doubled over in laughter. "You are such a dork," he said while still laughing. He was laughing too hard to even count with everyone else as the ball dropped.

Roman chuckled and pulled Virgil close as the crowd around them counted down to one. While everyone yelled, "Happy New Year," he tilted the musician's face up. He kissed him tenderly yet passionately, smirking into the kiss as the other man melted against him.

***

_Valentine's Day_

"I know we said no gifts, but I saw this and thought of you," Olav said, holding a present out for his boyfriend.

Remus looked at the gift and then at the man he'd been dating in secret for just a little over a month now. "I didn't get you anything, though."

"It's fine. Just take it."

Hesitantly Remus took the gift from the musician and opened it. "Dammit, Olav!" He tossed the paper aside and smiled brightly at the book he was given—a History of Clocks.

"I thought you might like it. Seeing as you are a watchmaker."

"Like it? I love it" He hugged the other man tightly and kissed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is gonna be longer, hopefully. It will take place right after Bedrag hangs up the phone.  
Also, I forgot to mention in the last chapter Bedrag is Norwegian for Deceit.


	21. Deceit

Olav stared blankly at his phone. His heart and mind were racing a mile a minute, but he didn't let the thoughts or emotions show on his face. Taking a deep breath, he walked down the street.

He couldn't go home. No. That's the first place the others would look for him. He couldn't go to Remus' place either. The base was out of the question since it was now a pile of rubble.

He should've killed Bedrag back when he had the chance. He knew this. He knew he should have done it back in Norway. Back before he took on a new name and a new form. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. And now... Now his friends were in danger because of his decisions. Because of his failure to act.

Walking quickly down the street, he turned down an alley and knocked on a door near the back.

"Who is it?" Came a gruff voice.

"Deceit," he replied in a hushed voice, leaning against the door. "Bedrag is back." He stood up straight as the door was unlocked and opened, revealing an older man with graying hair.

The two men stared at each other for a moment before the man stepped aside to allow the hero into the building.

"What happened?" The man closed the door behind Olav and turned to the younger man.

"I don't know. He found me somehow. He found us. I thought they would be safe, Hayden. He blew up the base. He stole Patton. He threatened Virgil and Remus." His voice rose in volume as he spoke, pacing the dimly lit foyer they were standing in.

"Breathe, Deceit. Breathe. You won't be of any use to them if you don't breathe."

Nodding, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Sorry."

"Shut up," the older man said, leading the other down a flight of stairs to a room filled with computers and maps. "I'll contact Rebellion and Shadow. They can help. You boys are going to need a new base."

"No base will be safe until I find and kill Bedrag."

"Deceit..."

Olav activated his watch and stood before the other man in his black and yellow suit. "I have to finish this."

"Call your teammates. They can help you."

"No. I'm doing this alone. I only came here to warn you," Deceit turned and left the older man. He was determined to find and save Patton and keep his friends safe from the snake faced villain.

Hayden waited until Olav was gone to contact Rebellion and Shadow, telling them to keep an eye out for him. He knew the younger man would end up killing himself if he wasn't careful. And the odds of him being careful were slim to none with the lives and safety of his friends being in danger.

***

"With the base in ruins tracking the watches is going to be next to impossible," Logan groaned as he and the other three heroes sat in Remus' shop. They had spent most of the day searching the city for Olav with no success.

"Bet you wish you guys didn't make them so hard to hack now. Huh?" Virgil said dryly, crossing his arms and leaning against a display case.

"Why did you put all of those fail-safes in place?" Roman asked. He was sitting beside Remus and rubbing the other's back in small circles to keep him calm.

"For our safety. And everyone's peace of mind. If I couldn't hack them with my powers, I knew no one else could hack them. And I knew you all would feel better about using them."

"Even before I knew you were Logan, I trusted you not to try and find out who I was," Virgil said. "Yeah, I wanted to keep my identity secret, but I trusted you not to snoop. If you had just promised not to track me, I would've trusted you and still used this damn thing."

"You were my main concern, Virgil. But, you weren't the only one who would've potentially not used the watch if I could access it."

"Who else did you have to do it for, Microsoft Nerd?"

"Himself," Remus' voice was soft and strained with emotion. He'd been crying a lot, and it had taken a lot out of him.

"What?" Roman and Virgil looked at Remus and then at Logan.

"I wouldn't forgive myself if another technokinetic was able to hack your watches. Or if I was used to hack them," he sighed and leaned in the counter in front of him, his head hanging low.

"Fucking a!" Virgil stood up quickly, causing the others to jump and look at him in confusion. "We can't track Patton. His watch wasn't activated when that asshole took him. But," he activated his watch and stood before them in his full suit. "If Olav activated his suit, we can track him."

"Of course!" Logan slapped his forehead and then activated his own watch. Roman and Remus quickly did the same. They checked their watches, and Remus yelled in excitement when he got a lock on Olav.

"He's not far from here. Should we go after him?" Virgil looked at the others.

"Of course, we should!" Remus exclaimed. "He shouldn't be out there alone." The others nodded, and they all followed Remus out the back of his shop.


	22. Night Storm

> The heroes made their way downtown, closing in on the signal from Deceit's watch, when it happened. There was a loud explosion from across town. A black cloud of smoke rose into the sky. The four men stopped and stared in the direction of the explosion.
> 
> "Night and I will go help out. You and Duke go find, Deceit," Roman said to Logic. The other hero hesitated a moment before nodding his head.
> 
> Remus and Logan continues to follow the signal from Olav's watch while Roman and Virgil turned and headed back in the direction of the explosion.
> 
> When they arrived they were relieved to see that it was an old dilapidated building that had been the source of the explosion. They still made their way into the building to make sure there were no casualties.
> 
> "Hello? Is anyone in here?" Roman called out as they cautiously made their way through the smoke and...surprising lack of debris.
> 
> "Prince. I don't like this. We need to get out of here. Now." The darkly dresses man said, backing towards the door they had come in.
> 
> "What if someone is injured and needs our help, Night? We can't just leave them here."
> 
> "Prince! There is no fire! There is no debris! My senses are going crazy in here! We're in danger!"
> 
> "I will admit that the lack of fire and debris is confusing. But, there's a lot of smoke, Night. Someone could still be injured."
> 
> "Like you," came a voice from behind the princely hero. He turned quickly in the direction and was thrown across the room, falling unconscious when he hit the brick wall on the other side.
> 
> "Prince!" Virgil made his way over to the other hero only to be knocked unconscious before he reached him.
> 
> ***
> 
> "Prince! Prince, wake up!"
> 
> Roman groaned and held his head, wincing in pain as he opened his eyes, surprised when he saw Logic standing in front of him. "Wh-what happened?"
> 
> "I was going to ask you the same thing. The Duke and I got a notification that you were injured on our watches. We came as soon as we could."
> 
> "Where's, Night Storm?" Olav asked, walking over to Roman and Logan.
> 
> "They found you!" The Prince stood up and nearly fell over, grabbing Logan's shoulder for support.
> 
> "Easy, Roman."
> 
> "Kinda. I met up with them when I got the notification as well. Where is Night Storm?"
> 
> "I don't know. Someone or something threw me across the room. Everything went dark pretty quickly. The next thing I knew you guys were here."
> 
> "Deceit!" Remus was standing on the other side of the room, where Roman had been thrown from and was staring at the wall.
> 
> "What is it?" Deceit asked, running over to the other hero.
> 
> "Why is your snake symbol here?" He asked, pointing to the image etched into the stone wall.
> 
> Deceit looked at the symbol and paled slightly. "It's not my symbol. The head is facing the wrong direction, love. Come on. We need to find Night Storm." He turned and walked back towards Roman, a confused Remus following.
> 
> ***
> 
> Virgil let out a soft groan and rubbed his head. Or at least he would have rubbed his head if his arms weren’t strapped to the chair he was currently in. “The hell?” He grunted as he tried to fight against the restraints.
> 
> “Wouldn’t do that if I were you, Virgil. You could really hurt yourself.”
> 
> His head shot up and he glared at the person who was talking to him. A man with half a snake face. He must’ve been the guy who grabbed Patton. But, there was something off about the left side of his face. Something oddly familiar.
> 
> “I’m going to need you to deactivate his watch, Patton. Wouldn’t want the others spoiling our fun. Now would we?”
> 
> Patton limped forward, eyes glazed over, and deactivated Virgil’s watch before removing it.
> 
> “Patton...” Virgil’s voice was barely above a whisper. “What did you do to him you sick fuck?!” He turned his attention back to his captor and growled angrily at him.
> 
> “Tsk tsk tsk. Such language will not do, Virgil,” he walked closer and smiled when he saw the look of anger on Virgil’s face turn to one of confusion mixed with horror.
> 
> “O-Olav...?”
> 
> Bedrag chuckled and shook his head. “Not exactly. He and I do have a lot in common. But he is not me. And I am not completely him. And to answer your earlier question I didn’t do anything to Patton...yet. He’s just a bit more cooperative right now. He didn’t start cooperating until you got here though.” He walked over to a console behind the chair and started pressing a few buttons. “Now, let’s see how much you’re willing to cooperate.”
> 
> Virgil shrieked in pain as currents of electricity courses through his body from the chair he was strapped to. Tears ran down his cheeks and his breath came in laboured gasps when the current ceased.
> 
> “Did that hurt, Virgil?”
> 
> “Go to hell.”
> 
> “I’ll take that as a yes. It will hurt less eventually.” He started the machine again.
> 
> Virgil’s screams echoed through the building. Patton stood before him, though his eyes and face were blank, tears ran down his cheeks as he watched his friend suffer.
> 
> “Wh-why are you doing this?” Virgil gasped out when the machine stopped again.
> 
> “Your friend Olav took something important from me. So, I’ve decided to take something important from him.”
> 
> What seemed like days, but was in fact only a couple of hours, later Bedrag released Virgil from the chair and tossed him into an empty room. “We’ll see how well your treatment went in the morning, Virgil. Until then...sleep well.” He closed the door and then sent Patton to his own room before sending a text to Olav.
> 
> B: One down. One to go.


	23. Ripples

It had been three weeks since Virgil had gone missing. Patton had been missing for over a month. The heroes were worried, scared, and desperate to find their friends. Even Logan, was showing more emotion than usual.

Where were they? Who was the man that had taken them? Would they ever see them again?

Roman was taking Virgil’s disappearance especially difficult. He blamed himself for not listening when he boyfriend voiced his concerns about being in the building. He’d turned down several movie and theater rolls. He barely left his flat except to go on patrol to search for his two missing friends. He swore to himself that when he found them he would hug them both tightly and he would insist that Virgil move in with him.

Emile was throwing himself into his work even more. His brother and their friend had both disappeared and no one knew where they had gone. The city was under attack by a new villain. Though to be honest any villain would be a new one as they weren’t prone to anything more than some petty crooks and the occasional gang. His patients were scared and worried. Though he hated to see them in distress he liked the fact that it afforded him a distraction from his own worries and concerns.

Logan has to physically be dragged back to his home by Roman and Remus so that he could get some rest every evening at dusk. He would start searching from dawn the next morning. He was in a downward spiral of despair. He couldn’t find his friends. He was a hero and unable to rescue them. He was beating himself up for not installing a failsafe or a back foot into the watches so that he could tap into them in case of an emergency. He was helpless and he hated it.

Remus was so worried about Patton and Roman that he’d only leave his shop to help Roman drag Logan home. His fear and concern for their safety had made him mostly unstable and turned him into a risk for the city. He felt bad that he couldn’t control his portals in his current state of mind and had to leave his brother, friend, and boyfriend to patrol the city and search for their friends on their own.

Olav was hardly ever seen by the other heroes. If it weren’t for the watches they would have thought that he had left the city completely. But no, there on the small devices on their wrists, every time they activated their suits, was a small yellow blip letting them know that their friend was still alive and still in town. He never made his appearance known to them though. Not since the day Virgil went missing.

Remy was starting to get concerned. Two reasonably attractive young men had both gone missing on their way home from a friend’s house in only a few weeks of each other. Both times there were no clues or evidence. No one knew where they could have gone to. Was this new villain in town to blame for these disappearances? Was it something more sinister? Was it something less sinister? Did they just run off and elope, leaving at separate times in the hopes of not raising any red flags?

Hayden had met with Rebellion and Shadow several times since Deceit came to see him. He had sent the heroes out to help patrol the city and keep an eye on the younger hero. He kept tabs on the heroes Deceit worked with. He had Shadow looking into the disappearances of both Heart and Night Storm. He had a feeling that they hadn’t left the city. Or at the very least we’re still in the state. Rebellion was in charge of keeping an eye out for Bedrag.

A dark figure had taken to terrorizing the city about two weeks after Virgil had disappeared. He was known simply as Angst. He filled the hearts and minds of those he encountered with terror. Roman had caught a glimpse of him once while on patrol. The villain wore a deep purple suit with black trim and accents. He had made an attempt to apprehend the villain, but the other man had disappeared without a trace before he could get close enough.

Patton hadn’t left his room since the day Virgil was captured. The door had remained unlocked and opened since that day, but he never left the small room. There was a bathroom attached, and Bedrag brought him enough food to stay alive. So, there was no reason to try and leave. To try and escape the pit of despair he had fallen into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter. I’m sorry. It’s late, and I’m waiting on my plane and I keep zoning out and forgetting what I was in the middle of typing. Lol


	24. Forræderi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: death threats, cursing, mention of torture

O: Meet me at the park

B: No

O: I mean it. We need to talk. This is getting out of hand. They have nothing to do with this. It’s me you want. Not them.

B: You are so right. I don’t want to make you suffer for the rest of your life in solitude like you did to me. Thank you for clearing that up for me. How could I have been so stupid?

Olav rolled his eyes after reading the message he’d received. There was no way to miss the sarcasm the other man had laced every single word of that text with.

O: Meet me at the park or I make it so you can’t make me suffer

B: Fine but only because I know you and I know what you would do

Several hours two men met at a park downtown. One man wore black jeans and a yellow t-shirt. The other man wore a black suit with a yellow dress shirt and gloves. It was dark, save for the small amount of light afforded to them by the moon that shone overhead. The light was just enough so that they could see each other, but not easily be seen by anyone walking by.

“What do you want?” The man in the suit adjusted his gloves with a bored expression on his face.

The other man looked around, as if expecting someone to jump out and attack him. Given who the man in front of him was his concern wasn’t entirely unwarranted.

“I came alone, Olav. Or ssshhhould I ssssay, father?” He smirked, the snake scales in the right of his face catching the moonlight in a way that made them glisten.

“Don’t call me that. We’re the same age,” Olav growled in annoyance.

“Well, it sssseemssss rather dissssresssspectful to call the man who gave me life by hisss name. Then again, that’ssss not really your name. Now issss it?”

“Shut up, Bedrag.”

“What wassss our name all thossse yearsss ago?”

“I’m warning you.”

“Oh. That’sssss right,” he tilted his head and stared at Olav, with cold, menacing eyes. “Forræderi.”

Olav flinched and glared at the man before him, his eyes full of hate.

“That isss what they called usss issssn’t it? Forræderi. Funny how oncccce you were rid of me and of age to be of ussssse with your powerssss that you chosssse to keep, you picked a name that wassss ssssynonumousss with the one you hated sssssso dearly.”

“I will fucking kill you, Bedrag. I swear. Shut your fucking mouth.”

“Why ssssso much hatred for yourssssself?”

“I have no hatred for myself. My hatred is towards you. You who kidnapped my friends. You who has one of the kindest men I have ever known terrorizing the city. You who is—“

“You.”

“You are not me!”

“I wassss. We were one and the sssssame. Until you went to the government to get rid of me.”

“Had I known you would’ve ended up like this I would’ve just killed myself.”

“You ssssshhhhould have known that not being human would have an effect on how their technology worked on ussss.”

Olav lowered his head and took a shakeup breath. Please let them go, Bedrag. They are innocent.”

“No one issss innoccccent!”

“What have Virgil and Patton dine to you? They aren’t me. They didn’t rip us apart! They didn’t convince me to regress us and hide from you!”

“No. But they are human. And humanssss did thisssss to ussss! You won’t even sssshow your facccce for fear of what they would do to usssss again. The exsssspwrimentsss. The tesssstssss. The pain.”

“I hide my face so I don’t have to be reminded of you. Of the terrible things we did and made people do when we were the same.”

“They screamed.”

Olav lifted his head and took a step back when he saw the face looking back at him was a mirror of the one he’d seen every morning since the removal of his darker half.

“Patton screamed in terror and pain. He screamed for you, for Virgil, for Roman, for Remus, for Logan, and for his dear brother Emile. That was the last name he screamed for. And the last name he said. Sadly, there’s no way to twist a healer,” he chuckled menacingly. “He became cooperative though when he saw Virgil though.”

Olav could feel his rage building. How could he and that monster before him ever have been the same person?

“Virgil screamed in pain for hours and hours. He also talked a lot of shit for the first three hours. I wonder how long Remus will fight before he finally breaks.”

Olav moved to attack the other man, but by the time he had reached the spot where he’d been standing Bedrag was gone.

“Fuck!” Olav looked around in a panic, running his hands through his hair and pulling it slightly. The tears he had been holding back fell silently. His friends. His lover. Every single human in this town, and quite possibly the planet, we’re in grave danger. And he had no one to blame, but himself.


	25. The Duke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: deception

Remus sat at his desk in the back of his shop, working on an old pocket watch. The small item had been well loved and taken care of by his owner. And, it was always a pleasure for the man when the owner brought it to him for repair. Each timepiece the watchmaker worked on held a story and a history all its own. He had discovered a few years back, when he’d started taking an interest in old analog clocks, that there was some type of connection between them and his portals. Certain watches and clocks, usually the antique ones, could open his portals somehow. Roman had speculated that is was more how the piece made him feel than the timepiece itself. They had tried with other objects, but nothing ever happened.

Remus made a mental note to ask Logan his theories on this phenomenon once they found Virgil and Patton. He set his tools down and stretched his back as the bell above the door to his shop chimed, alerting him to a customer.

“Welcome to The Back Alley Watch Doctor. How can I...Olav?” He stared in shock as he looked at his boyfriend. The other man was leaning forward, with his hands on his hips, and was breathing heavily.

Running to the back of the shop Remus grabbed a glass of water and brought it to Olav. “Drink this. Slowly.”

Nodding his head the man in black and yellow took the glass and slowly took a sip of water. “We’ve gotta go, Remus.”

“What? Why?”

“I...I found them. Patton and Virgil. I found them.”

“What?! That’s great. We need to let Roman and Logan know!” He turned to head to the counter to grab the phone and call his brother. Olaf reaches out and grabbed his wrist, stopping him before he could get too far.

“Called them on my way over here. No time to waste. Need to hurry. Come on.”

Remus was dragged out of the shop, not even given a chance to lock the door behind them. “Where are they?”

“Warehouse across town.”

Remus went with Olav to the building Virgil had last been seen. He gave his boyfriend a confused look as he was led into the building. “I thought you said they were in the warehouse across town.”

“I told Logan and Roman to meet us here,” Olav turned to face the watchmaker.

Remus frowned slightly and took a step back. This was the first time he’d gotten a good look at his boyfriend’s face since he arrived at the shop. His face was wrong.

“What’s wrong?”

“Y-your face. What happened?”

“What do you mean?” Opal took a step closer.

“It’s not right, dude.”

“I was in a rush. I might not have concentrated enough on my appearance.”

“No,” Remus shook his head. “You can’t switch your eyes. Olav can’t switch his eyes. Who are you? Where is Olav?!”

“Shit,” Bedrag shifted back to his normal appearance and glared at Remus. “Of coursssse the boyfriend would noticccce the eyesssss being off.”

Remus was about to activate his watch when he noticed it wasn’t on his wrist.

“Looking for thissss?” Bedrag held up the device with a sinister smirk before shifting into a constructor and wrapping himself around Remus before the other had a chance to register what was going on. He squeezed the hero, restricting his breathing until he fell unconscious.

***

Olav called Roman from Remus’ shop, biting nervously in his thumbnail.

“Everything okay, Remus?” Roman asked as he answered the phone.

“No. It’s Olav. I came to the shop to talk to Remus and he wasn’t here, but the door is open,” he spoke in a panicked tone.

“I’m on my way down there.” Roman hung up the phone and ran out of his flat, making his way down to Remus’ shop.

Olav hung up the phone and fought back a new wave of tears.

***

“Virgil! Patton!” Remus tried to run to his friends when he woke up, but found that he couldn’t move. He looked down to see that he was restrained to a chair and then looked up at his friends to see Patton’s vacant expression and Virgil looking as if he wanted to rip him a new one.

“Virgil? Patton?” His voice was less excited, more panicked.

“They won’t anssssswer you, Remussss,” Bedrag stepped forward and smirked. “Virgil, you sssshhhhould record thissss. I’m ssssure Olav would love to sssssee hissss boytoy’ssss dessssccccent into madnessss.”

Virgil smirked and took Bedrag’s mobile from him, turning on the camera.

“What?” Remus watched with a panicked expression as Bedrag walked behind him and turned on the machine causing him to scream out in pain and terror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter. These are getting harder to write because I really don’t want to hurt the guys. We’ll be lucky if the next rough chapter isn’t only one sentence long.


	26. Days

Days since Remus disappeared: 2

Logan, Roman, and Olav sat with Remy once more. All four men looked a little worse for wear. Roman’s hair was a bit fuller than it had been months ago. Logan’s eyes did not hold the same spark they once held. Olav’s features betrayed the guilt he felt about his missing companions. Remy had bags under his eyes, hidden behind his sunglasses, and was on his twelfth cup of coffee in as many hours.

“Is there anyone who could possibly want to harm your friends?”

“No. They did not even frequent the same circles as a rule. Patton is a nurse. Virgil a freelance illustrator. And Remus was...is a watchmaker.”

“The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker...” Olav mumbled to himself.

“What was that, Mr Layton?”

His head snapped up and his glazed eyes looked at the three men that all gave him a curious look. “Huh? Uh...n-nothing. Just...just something I remember from when I was a child in Norway.”

“I know that nursery rhyme,” Roman sighed. “I don’t think now is the time to be remembering nursery rhymes though.”

“No. It’s not,” Olav stood up quickly. “If you guys will excuse me I need to make a phone call. My dad wanted me to check in. He’s been worrying about me since I told him Patton went missing.”

“Go on,” Roman waved a dismissive hand at Olav.

Leaving the actor’s apartment the musician stood out in the hall and sent a text.

O: The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker

H: What?

O: The case that led you to me

O: The three missing men

H: I know the case.

O: Where did you find us

H: An abandoned mine. There aren’t any in this town.

O: Abandoned buildings

H: We’ll search.

O: Thank you

He shoved his mobile back into his pocket and walked back into the apartment.

After answering a few more questions the detective had Roman saw the man out and he and his friends sat in silence.

Days since Remus disappeared: 18

Olav was starting to become more worried. Hayden had no new news about Bedrag or the missing men. The only clue he had had been a video sent to him from Bedrag of Remus being strapped to the device that was supposed to have corrected the corruption in him, but had only gave it a chance to do more damage in this world. Three thousand years of terror and sadism, in a body without a conscience. He shuddered at the thought, and tears threatened to spill forward as he remembered the video. He knew he had no choice. He would have to let the others know what he knew. Not yet though. He couldn’t let them know just yet. He had to correct this first.

Days since Remus disappeared: 48

Another new villain. Korrupsjon. Logan and Roman weren’t sure how much longer they could handle this mess. They hadn’t believed the rumors about the new villain until they saw him for theirselves.

Days since Remus disappeared: 100

“If he’s Remus then that means Angst is...”

“Virgil.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“We need to stop them. We need to get them back. We need to save them from whatever it is that has done this to them!”

“Breathe, Roman.”

Three men sat silently in a mostly empty apartment. Neither of them knew what to say or think. They had finally witnessed the villain Korrupsjon terrorize a family with their own eyes. They had been rendered useless by Angst and his voice that sent them each into terror filled panic. The family didn’t make it. The town was in fear. They no longer trusted the trio to be able to keep them safe.

“I thought you could keep your wits about you when Virgil used that voice, Olav,” Roman broke the silence.

“I thought I could too. I think he did something to change him. To make him stronger.”

“Who?”

“Bedrag.”

“Who?” Logan and Roman looked at their friend with skepticism.

Now. He had to tell them now. There was no saving them on his own. He needed help. They needed help. Taking out his mobile he pulled up the video and pressed play, setting it on the center of the table as screams of pain and fear emitted from the speakers.


	27. The Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: swearing, accusations of manipulation, mention of murder, mention of torturing

The screaming and begging stopped as the video came to an end. The silence that filled the room was somehow louder than the sounds that came from the mobile device sitting on the table between them. The sounds of pain and anguish that echoed inside their skulls as the images within the video tattooed themselves inside their eyelids. None of them would ever be able to unsee what they had just witnessed. The sight would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

If that had been what had happened to Remus. And this same psycho had both Patton and Virgil as well. They shuddered. They were all thinking the same thing. And none of them wanted to think of the pain and suffering that the other two men had to endure.

“How do you know him?” Logan’s strained voice broke the silence.

“Surely he was a villain that Olav had encountered before,” the princely hero’s usually loud and proud voice was soft and unsure.

“I was him,” the third man responded quietly. The other two men looked up quickly and stared at him in shock and disbelief.

“The fuck do you mean you were him?”

“Bedrag is...was me. And I was him. We used to be the same person.”

“How is that possible?” Logan adjusted his glasses.

Taking a deep breath Olav shifted his form, revealing scales along the left side of his face and yellow, snake like eye. Roman and Logan jumped up from their seats, knocking them to the floor, and the former activated his weapon. The tip of his sword blade level with the snake like man’s throat. He didn’t move though. He didn’t even flinch. How could he? He couldn’t blame them for their fear. For the distrust in their eyes. He had brought this plague upon them and their city.

“Roman...” a steady hand reached over and calmly deactivated the weapon. “Give him a chance to explain.”

“He’d better have a damn good explanation or I’m stabbing him in the spleen and taking his whole fucking face off.”

“Please sit down,” the scales slowly shifted back into the pale skin. The yellow eye slowly turning back to blue.

Roman and Logan cautiously picked up their chairs and sat down, keeping a close eye on the man in front of them.

“Talk, Dr Trickle and Mr Lies.”

Olav flinched at the name, but nodded his head. “Where do you want me to start?”

“The beginning is usually a satisfactory starting point.”

“Okay,” he sighed and nodded his head. “I’m a lot older than all of you. Like over three thousand years older. To be honest, I’m not even human. I don’t know what I am though. When I came to this world, I don’t know if it was from another planet or dimension I just know that I woke up one day and I was here, I just had this insatiable bloodlust. I wanted to kill. I wanted hurt. I wanted to torture. And I did so, freely. Up until about thirty years ago. There were three men I kidnapped and tortured for seven months before killing. The butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker. The Norwegian government found me in an abandoned mine with the corpses. They locked me in a cage and experimented on me. Finally a scientist came to get me. He said he could fix me. Correct whatever had corrupted my mind and made me a serial killer. They had had progress before with other people with powers. The machine they used. The machine Remus was strapped to. It was able to rewire the brain of someone with powers and shut them off. Apparently sometimes the powers corrupted and caused the person to go mad. I had no say in the matter. I couldn’t turn down the offer or consent to it. They did it. When I woke up after two weeks of torture in that machine... the lab had been destroyed. There were only three people alive. Me, me, and the scientist. I have a multitude of powers and one was regeneration.”

“Was?”

“After I regressed Bedrag and I I lost it. It may come back someday. I’m not sure. Anyway. I regressed us. I should have killed him, but I couldn’t. I could have prevented all of this from happening if I had just been strong enough.”

“I think it took more strength not to kill him, to be honest,” Roman ran a hand through his hair and looked away from the other two.

“As do I. Though, that does not explain what he is doing with Patton, Virgil, and Remus.”

“It’s to get back at me. He is not as strong without me. And he hates it. So to punish me he’s hurting them.”

“Can we stop him and save them?”

“I don’t know. I mean, theoretically we can do both. I just don’t know how. I tried to find him after Patton went missing and doubled my efforts after he kidnapped Virgil. I finally got him to meet up with me before he took Remus. But he got away before I could attack him. Then he took Remus. The thing is...this was over kill,” he gestured to the mobile device.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m able to keep you guys safe and your identities secret through the power of suggestion. Bedrag has more of the evil and corruption that was in me. He doesn’t just make mere suggestions that warp a person’s thought process. He can manipulate them into doing whatever he wants as long as they either have an emotional connection to him or he’s worn them down enough. This might have been necessary for Virgil. Maybe even Patton, if he was able to keep his emotions in check. But Remus...” he let out a shaky breath. “Remus and I are lovers. I would give up every atom in my body for your brother, Roman. There was no need for Bedrag to torture him. All he had to do was say the word and he would’ve had complete control over him.”

“How?”

“Because Bedrag and Olav are still connected on some level. Remus’ feelings for Olav would translate over and allow him to be easily manipulated.”

Olav nodded his head. “Had I known Bedrag would find me I never would have gotten into a relationship with Remus. I would have avoided him. I would have avoided all of you. Or at the very least I would have prepared you all to withstand my powers and to be able to defeat me.”

“You lies to us for almost a fucking year while we searched for our friends.”

“I know, Roman. And I cannot beg for forgiveness enough.”

“This kind of action needs forgiveness to be earned, Olav. I’m afraid I am with Roman on this one.”

Roman and Logan stood up once more. Calmer this time. “When you have a lead let us know. Other than anything pertaining to saving the others we don’t want to hear from you,” Roman turned and stormed out of the apartment, Logan close behind.


	28. Quarrel

Olav went out every night for a week straight, looking for Remus, Virgil, and Patton. An entire week without being able to find any sign of them. He was starting to give up hope when he saw a familiar shape in green and black.

“Duke!” He called out, approaching the man in the deserted street.

The figure slowly turned to face him with a sinister smirk on his face. “Afraid to break it to you, but The Duke isn’t here right now. Perhaps he’s buried alive. Hopping you’ll come and save him.”

Olav grit his teeth and walked towards the other man. “Please, Remus. I know you’re in there.”

“No Remus. But you can have fiend in me!” A tentacle shot out of Remus’ chest and wrapped around Olav’s throat, lifting him up off the ground.

“R-Remus...” he grabbed at the appendage wrapped around his neck and tried to pull free.

“No. Korrupsjon,” he threw Olav to the ground and pulled out his mace, slowly advancing on the hero.

“Stop this!”

His demand fell on deaf ears. With one swing the mace made contact with the side of the hero’s head and sent him flying into a nearby building. His watch sent out a distress signal, alerting Roman and Logan. As he slowly picked himself up off the ground, Olav put no faith in the other two showing up to help him. This was his mess and he knew he had to clean it up himself.

A tentacle wrapped around his neck once more and the hero was flung around like a rag doll for what felt like hours.

Olav opened his eyes and winced in pain as he got up off the ground, looking over to see Roman holding Remus off, never giving the other enough space to activate a portal and attack him with anything more than his mace.

“Is he alright, Logic?”

“He’s conscious. I don’t think he’ll need another trip to the hospital,” the darkly clad hero called back. “Deceit. Can you hear me?”

“Y-yeah. I’m fine,” he slowly stood with the help of the other man. “Why are you two here?”

“Your watch let off a distress signal. We weren’t going to leave you.”

“Wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“Time out for thee and time out for thee. Focus on issues or focus on me,” Roman growled, using his shield to block a hit from Remus.

The other two heroes quickly joined him and were able to get the villain in green to retreat.

The three men followed after him until a terrifying voice sounded in their heads and caused them all to collapse in terror and pain. When they were finally able to move Remus was gone.

“We’re going to need help,” Olav punched the wall of a nearby building.

“How would we get help? We’re the only heroes in the city, Deceit.”

“Not exactly.”

Roman and Logan looked over at Olav and frowned. “What do you mean,” the latter asked.

Olav sighed and deactivated his suit. “Deactivate your suits and follow me.” The other two hesitated for a moment before doing as they were told.


	29. An Old New Base

Olav knocked on the door in the back of the alley. Roman and Logan stood close, looking around suspiciously. It was late and the shadiness of the area had them both on high alert.

“Who is it?” Came a gruff voice that caused them both to turn their attention to the door.

“Deceit. I brought them. We need your help.”

The door opened and Hayden looked over Olav’s and his two companions. “Come on in,” he stepped aside to let them into the foyer and closed the door behind them.

“This is The Prince, and Logic. Prince, Logic, this is Dr Hayden Falk.”

“Greetings.”

“Salutations.”

“Base is downstairs,” Hayden turned and led the trio down to his base.

Roman and Logan gave Olav a questioning look, but the other hero ignored them and followed the doctor down the stairs. The two looked at each other and shrugged before heading down the stairs as well.

“Fascinating,” Logan immediately began to walk around the room, examining everything he laid his eyes on.

“Did you tell them, Deceit?”

“Yes. They know everything I know. Bedrag definitely has Remus and Virgil. He’s used the machine to weaken them.”

Hayden watched Olav closely for a moment and frowned slightly. “What happened?”

“You haven’t shown him yet, have you?” Roman looked at the other hero with concern.

“No. I can’t. I can’t...” Olav turned his back to them and lowered his head, his shoulder sagging.

“What is going on?”

Roman went over to Olav’s and pulled his mobile out of his pocket then handed it to Hayden. “Bedrag sent him a video.”

“A video?” Hayden took the device and hooked it up to one of the computers before putting on headphones and playing the video.

The room was silent as the older man watched the video. Olav kept his back to the group and Roman and Logan looked between the hero and the man they just met with concern on their faces.

When he was done with the video Hayden lowered the headphones and looked at the other three men. His face looked like it had aged years in the time it took him to watch the video.

“Why?”

“To make me suffer. Remus would’ve been easy to manipulate. This was just his way to hurt me even more.”

“Do you have any idea where they are?”

“No. The video was encrypted and couldn’t me tracked. I did run into Remus earlier. He attacked me.”

“Nearly killed him,” Roman hugged himself and rubbed his arms.

Hayden pressed a button on the console beside him. “Shadow will be here shortly. Rebellion had a job out of town, but I will let her in on what is going on as soon as I get a chance.”

“No,” Olav turned around and glared at Hayden. “No. No one else gets involved. These two are already in danger.”

“You need help, Deceit. You three cannot do this without help.”

“Your help. No one else’s.”

“We should accept all the help we can get, Deceit.” Roman took a step closer to the other man and reached out to place a hand on his shoulder. The other hero slapped his hand away and fixed him with a steady gaze, his blue eyes shifting to yellow.

“We do NOT need help, Roman.”

Roman froze and stared into Olav’s eyes. “We don’t need help.”

“OLAV!” Logan, moves to stand between the two heroes. “We need the help and we will be accepting it. End of discussion.”

Olav blinked and took a step back letting go of his hold on Roman’s mind. The other hero blinked as well and stumbled back, placing a hand to his head and shaking it to clear the fog.

“I’m sorry, Roman.”

“It’s fine. I think. Are we accepting help?”

“Yes,” Logan replied in a voice that told them there was no room for debate.


	30. Shadow

Hayden led the three heroes into the kitchen and fixed them each a cup of coffee. He instructed the men to relax while he went and took care of some business.

The older man hadn’t been gone for more than maybe twenty minutes when a man in a black leather jacket and sunglasses walked in. “What’s going on, ba...be?” He froze in the door and stared wide eyed at the three men he knew and yet didn’t.

“Oh shhh...” Logan covered his mouth and stared at the older man.

“Hayden!”

The scientist ran into the room and stared at the four men. “What’s wrong, Shadow?”

“Who are these people? You pages me, but didn’t tell me we had company.”

“Deceit you already know. That’s The Prince. And the one with the glasses is Logic.”

“Deceit?” Shadow stepped forward and stared intently at the hero.

Olav hesitated a moment before changing his form to one that was more familiar to the other hero.

“Deceit! You son of a...!” He whacked the man several times. “You knew it was me and said nothing!” Olav put his arms up and tried to protect himself from the onslaught.

“Wait. You know each other? What else are you hiding from us?”

“I didn’t know his real name, Prince. In here we go by code names. Well, except for Hayden.”

“Should I have not used your real names then?”

“You’re fine, Logic,” Hayden pulled the fuming Shadow away from Deceit. “When Rebellion arrives codenames will be strictly enforced though.”

The dark haired man nodded in understanding.

“Relax,” Olav removed Shadow’s glasses and looked into the older man’s eyes. The other immediately relaxed and Hayden let him go.

“Why didn’t you say something the first time you saw me, D?” Shadow snatched his sunglasses out of the other hero’s hands and put them back on his face.

“I don’t out former teammates.”

“Former teammates?”

“Deceit and I used to work together when Hayden tracked him down here in America. He was older then though. Weird.”

“Wait. So, Detective O’Hearn is a hero and has powers?”

“Try and keep up, babe. You’re kinda slowing us down here,” he crossed his arms and gave the princely hero an annoyed look.

“Don’t be harsh on him, Shadow. I panicked and tried convincing him to take my side on not calling you and Rebellion in on this.”

“Convincing him? How?”

“I tried to force a thought into his mind that was the complete opposite of what he was thinking.”

“Are you fucking stupid?! You could’ve seriously hurt him. Or even yourself, D.”

“I panicked!”

“Enough yelling you two. The kid is fine. We’ve got bigger problems.”

Shadow nodded and fixed himself a cup of coffee. “Kid’s fine, save for the fact that he’s a little slow on the uptake thanks to Deceit doing something stupid.”

“Can we focus on the whack job kidnapping and torturing our friends and using them to destroy the city,” Roman sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair, looking both annoyed and embarrassed.

“Sorry, Prince. So. What’s Bedrag up to?”

Logan caught Remy up on the events, correcting the details they had fabricated when they had first met him.

“That explains why there was no evidence anywhere.”

“Yes and no.”

The other men all gave Logan a confused look.

“Allow me to explain. I work with the city’s forensics department. I know how to process a crime scene. Each place that our friends have disappeared from I have processed. There was no evidence of them being at any of those places.”

“Not following, calculator watch.”

“There should have been evidence. Especially at Remus’ shop. There was nothing.”

There was a collective “oh” and they all looked deeply troubled by the new information. Four sets of eyes landed on Deceit, full of questions.

“Don’t look at me. This isn’t a power that I had. Not even when I was... Never in the thousands of years that I’ve been on this planet have I ever, to my knowledge, been able to clean a crime scene. Not like that.” They all looked away from him, trying to think of some answer to what had happened.

“Hold the phone,” Roman’s head shot up and he raised a finger straight up before pointing it at Deceit. “Did you have the ability to disappear before?”

“What? No. Why?”

“You told Logic and I that when you tried to attack Bedrag he disappeared on you before you could even land a hit. Right?”

“Yeah. But what would that have to do with cleaning crime scenes?”

“Night Storm can disappear. Heart can heal wounds.”

“Again, what does that have to do with the crime scenes?”

“What if Heart wasn’t the first hero he captured?”

“Interesting theory,” Logan held his chin in his hand and frowned in thought. “Deceit, can you shift into my form?”

“I mean, yeah. But...” shrugging he focused and shifted his form into Logan’s. Before the nerdy hero stood a near identical copy of himself. The only difference was the lighter patch of skin on the left side of his face and the lighter left eye. “What’s the point of this?”

“Turn on the microwave,” he pointed to the machine across the kitchen. “No, with your mind.” He placed a hand on Deceit’s shoulder to stop him when he went to walk towards the machine.

Nothing happened.

“Okay, so that was a waste of time. I guess he can’t copy powers.”

“It was still a good theory,” Olav changed back to his usual form then stared at Logan for a moment. “You saw nothing in the building that Night Shadow went missing in?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“Fuuuuck.”

“What is it?”

“He was there. Bedrag was there when you went looking.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Oh. Oh! Oh no.” Everyone turned to look at Roman. “He can manipulate. His power of suggestion is darker and stronger than yours, right Deceit?” The other man nodded. “Bedrag was in the building when you went there Logic. You saw evidence. You collected evidence. He either convinced you that you didn’t. Or he convinced you to destroy it.”

Logan cursed and sat down in a chair.

“That’s gonna make this a lot harder,” Shadow said, leaning against the wall.

“Harder, yes. But, not impossible. We can still find them.”

“Can we?” Deceit and Shadow asked, looking at The Prince.

“We can,” Logic said firmly, looking at them all from his seat.


	31. Angst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Angst. Dude is just gonna be straight up evil in this chapter. Like all the evil. Like so much evil Darth Vader and Lord Voldemort are gonna need nightlights after reading this chapter. Also torture. You have been warned.

Terror gripped the city. Roman, Remy, Logan, and Olav has no idea what to do. They were no match for Angst. The only one of them that any hope against the villain that had once been the hero Night Shadow, was now powerless against him. Whatever Bedrag has done to the man had amplified his powers to the point he was now impossible to handle.

“What are we gonna do?” Roman and the other heroes hid behind a building while Angst looked for them. He hadn’t started using his voice yet. Toying with them like a cat with a mouse.

“He can’t be reasoned with,” Logan sent a truck flying down the street and Angst dodges it effortlessly.

“You can’t reason with him if you’re throwing vehicles at him, Logic.”

“D and I are useless in this situation. I can’t get close enough to him to put him to sleep. And I don’t see how shapeshifting with work in this situation.”

“It won’t. If we can’t get close to him I can’t even fight him hand to hand.”

“That makes me useless as well. A melee weapon is useless in a ranged fight.”

They all looked at Logan. He stared back at his companions and sighed heavily. “I can only throw so many things at him. But...”

“But...?” Roman looked at the other hero expectantly.

“We can create distractions. If we can keep his attention on us long enough Shadow can sneak up on him and put him to sleep.”

“Splendid! How do we do it?”

“Deceit, you trained Night Shadow with his throwing daggers. Correct?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You’re gonna start throwing daggers at him. Prince, you’re our tank. I’ll do my best to send other, heavier objects at him. If we can keep him focused on dodging and making physical attacks against Prince we should be good.”

“Here’s hoping this works, babe.”

The others nodded and the three younger heroes left their hiding spot and prepared to take on the man that had once been their friend. At least, that was the plan. When they came out of hiding the villain was no where to be seen.

“Do you think he—AAARGH!” Roman fell to his knees and gripped his head, tears flowing.

The others called his name, but he couldn’t hear them as horrible visions swam before his eyes and a storm rang in his ears. He was at Angst’s mercy.

“YOU FAILED HIM, ROMAN. HE TRUSTED YOU. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO KEEP HIM SAFE. BECAUSE OF YOU HE WAS CAPTURED. YOU FAILED. HE SPENT HOURS IN THAT CHAIR. TORTURED. HE SCREAMED FOR YOU. BEGGED YOU TO COME SAVE HIM. HE DIED WITH YOUR NAME ON HIS LIPS.”

Images of Virgil being tortured flashed in the princely hero’s mind. The darkly colored hero screaming in agony, begging for help. Begging for death by the end of it. His lifeless form limp in the chair, eyes clouded over and lifeless. The room still echoing with his screams. Two dark figures stood in the corner watching the scene and snickering sinisterly. The scene began again. Virgil fighting his restraints. Bedrag starting the machine. Virgil screaming in pain and fear. The machine stopping long enough to allow the man to regain his mind enough to know what was happening. The machine started again. He screamed. It stopped. A moment of reprieve. It repeated. After several hours of torture the screaming stopped. The machine turned off. The body fell limp. The chest no longer rose and fell with signs of life. The eyes slowly clouded over. The figures laughed. The scene restarted.

Olav moved forward to grab Roman. To try and pull him out of his nightmare, but he stopped short. Eyes widened with fear and he too fell to his knees.

“HE WOULD’VE BEEN SAFE IF IT WEREN’T FOR YOU. YOU LED HIM TO HIS DEATH, OLAV. YOU KNOW YOU DID. YOU SAW IT.”

The contents of the video replayed before Olav’s eyes. He remained kneeling on the ground. Silent tears running down his cheeks as he watched the man he loved being tortured over and over again.

“Logic! Get out of there!” Shadow ran out from their hiding spot and towards the logical hero, but he was too late.

Angst smirked and made himself visible between the two heroes.

“PATTON.” He whispered towards Logan, causing him to fall to the ground as images of the man who had been like a brother to him was tortured before his eyes. His own failings playing repeatedly in his mind. So many ways he could have saved the other man and his other friends, but he failed.

A sinister smirk crossed the villain’s face and he looked towards the new hero. “Shadow. Shadow Shadow Shadow.” He slowly approaches the other man. The hero backed away from him in fear. Angst suddenly stopped, eyes and smile widening. He looked from the hero to Olav and then back again and laughed. “GO TO SLEEP, D.”

Shadow’s eyes filled with tears and he dropped to his knees just as the others had. “N-no. Please.”

“YOU TOLD HIM TO GO TO SLEEP. YOU KNOCKED HIM UNCONSCIOUS. YOU LEFT HIM. HE WAS AT THEIR MERCY. THE THINGS THEY DID TO HIM. YOU LET THEM HURT HIM. YOU LET THEM DEMAGE AND DIRTY HIM. AND HE DOESN’T EVEN KNOW. HE STILL TRUSTS YOU WITH HIS LIFE. IF ONLY HE KNEW THE TRUTH. THE REASON HE CAN’T ACCESS ALL OF HIS POWERS. THE REASON HE IS EVEN HERE. THE REASON FOR ANY OF THIS. IT’S YOU. YOU’RE TO BLAME FOR EVERYTHING.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you ask, I won’t tell anyone what Angst meant when he was talking to Shadow. You’ll find it out in A Deceitful Calling when I get around to it.


	32. Another Hospital Visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Hospital, mention of kidnapping

It had need two weeks since the heroes fell to Angst. Roman had been hit the worst of the group and had fallen into a coma. Remy visited him on a daily basis and tried to wake him, but with no success. Logan remained by his bedside, ignoring the hospital staff when they tried to urge him to go home and rest. Olav went missing after the fight. He had been the second to come out of the trance when Angst left.

“Any word from Olav,” Remy took his usual seat in the chair beside Logan, eyes fixed on the man asleep in the bed before them.

“No. He’s removed his watch as well, so I can’t track him either.”

“Stubborn little shit. Any luck remembering what he said when he took off?”

“No. Unfortunately I still seem to be under Bedrag’s effects.” Logan, while trapped in his nightmare had been able to recall a single sentence that had been whispered in his ear when he’d gone back to the destroyed base to find Patton. You can’t find them. Four simple words had blocked his mind from being able to process anything pertaining to finding his friends. He could only surmise that the words created doubt within his mind and that was why he was also unable to find Olav. The watches, he had faith in those, and after seeing Virgil and Remus without theirs he knew that they were traceable. They had found Olav that first time after all. So the fact that he couldn’t this time could only mean that the watch was not being activated. Which meant he most likely wasn’t wearing it.

“We’ll find them, Logan. Roman will wake up. And we will make Bedrag pay for all of this. I promise,” Remy places a hand in Roman’s forehead and searched his mind to try and find the princely hero so he could pull him back to the waking world. He shuddered and frowned, he could feel the nightmare he was trapped in, but couldn’t find the hero.

“Don’t make promises you cannot keep, Remy.”

The detective removed his hand and sat back, shooting Logan a dirty look before putting his sunglasses on. “I never make promises I can’t keep, babe. That bastard is gonna pay for fucking with you boys.”

Logan watched silently as the older man stood up and walked out of the hospital room. He wondered how the other could be so confident and so sure of things. They had no leads. No evidence. No way of knowing where or who Bedrag was since he shared Olav’s ability to shapeshift.

Logan frowned slightly. If Bedrag shared Olav’s abilities and Olav couldn’t copy powers... how could Bedrag implant that thought into his head or stop him from finding any evidence? Had he convinced Logan that he was alone when in fact he wasn’t? The hero shook his head. He couldn’t allow himself to fall into that never ending stream of questions. The what if’s would drive him mad. He needed to keep his wits about him. For now the city only had two heroes and Logic and Shadow were not much of a match for Bedrag and his reluctant minions. He had to remind himself that Virgil and Remus were unwilling participants in all of this.

“Actor Roman Royal is still in the hospital do to an unknown illness. Sources say it was stress induced as the anniversary of the disappearance of his boyfriend Virgil Winslow neared. The name of the hospital he is at is being withheld to allow him and his family privacy. And also to protect them as speculation makes its way around in his fan base about a possible stalker taking out anyone close to the actor. Orion is with the president of Royal’s fan club now to discuss this theory. Orion?”

“Yes, I’m here with Andi Thompson. President of Sandersville’s chapter or the Roman Royal fan club. He said there are some theories about the sudden disappearance of several people close to the young actor and his sudden hospitalization.”

“Yeah. Roman’s been on the news like several times to ask for help looking for people close to him. First was that nurse. Then his boyfriend. And most recently his brother. Also, he’s praised the band Emo Nightmare for their single Dragon Witch and for their work with several nonprofit charities in raising money. The lead singer of Emo Nightmare went missing shortly after Roman’s boyfriend, but before his brother. I think he’s got a stalker. Like the really dangerous kind. Not just a danger to Roman, but to anyone he talks to or about. I’m hoping that the worst they’ve done is just kidnapped these people and not something much more sinister.”

“And your thoughts on Roman’s hospitalization?”

“I think he’s actually in hiding. I think he’s being hidden away to keep him safe. And I don’t blame his people for hiding him. Whoever is kidnapping his friends and family is friggin crazy.”

“Thank you for you input on this matter. Do you have anything else you’d like to share?”

“Yeah. To whomever kidnapped those close to Roman Royal and the lead singer of Emo Nightmare. Please let them go. Yeah, this is getting you attention, but it’s not good attention. You’re hurting innocent people and upsetting a man with a heart that is so huge he’s got love for the entire planet. Please let them go. If you do things will go a lot easier for you with the police.”

“Thank you, Mx Thompson. Back to you, Cate.”

“Thank you, Orion. Later today we’ll discuss the new villains in town and what people are saying about the fact that our heroes can’t seem to stop them.”

Logan sighed and turned off the TV. “We’re failures. Don’t need the news to tell us that.”


	33. Missing

“Any word on Deceit,” Hayden asked as Remy walked into the base and poured himself a cup of coffee.

“No. Logic has tried his watch, but either D isn’t wearing it or he hasn’t activated it at all.”

“Two weeks is a long time to go without contacting your friends.”

“Since when did D ever consider anyone a friend? I’m surprised he even got close enough to that Royal kid for Bedrag to be able to manipulate him,” sitting down at the table the detective took a sip of his coffee and let out an annoyed sigh.

“But he did. And now you see why he kept his guard up with you,” Hayden sat across from Remy and fixed him with a stern gaze. “We’re you able to wake The Prince?” Remy sighed and shook his head, eyes fixed on the dark liquid in his mug. “Could it be because this was induced by Angst?”

“It’s possible,” he took off his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes with his wrist. “I honestly don’t know, H. I can’t even find him. It’s like he’s not even there. I can feel the nightmare. He’s not on respirators or anything. He’s got a feeding tube for obvious reasons. His involuntary functions are still active. He’s just not responding to any outside stimulus. He’s trapped in there and I can’t find him.”

Hayden reached a hand across the table and gently placed it over the younger man’s, giving it a small reassuring squeeze. “You’ll wake him up. I have faith in you.”

“Thanks, babe. Logic said he thinks Bedrag did place a thought in his head to keep him from finding the others. We need to find a way to counter act that.”

The scientist sighed and shook his head. “We’ve never found a living victim of Forræderi. I don’t think there is a way to reverse his manipulation. Not without him doing it himself.”

“Could D do it?”

“It’s possible, but we don’t know where he is. Or the exact words used. Theoretically speaking he’d probably have to use the exact opposite of the phrase used.”

“Fuck my life,” the hero groans dropping his forehead onto the table. “How much longer before Rebellion is back in town?”

“A couple more weeks. She was visiting a friend on one of the colonies. Have you checked on the nurse’s brother? He seems to be the only one to not know what is going on.”

“Yeah,” Remy sat up and put his shades back on his face. “I told him that it would probably be best if he left town for a bit after the Winslow kid disappeared. That was when I was working on the theory that it had something to do with the people living in that house. Like maybe a crazed patient or something since he and his brother brother worked in the medical field. He’s supposed to be coming back next week. He felt terrible leaving his patients and practice for so long.”

Hayden nodded. Remy finished his coffee then made his way over to one of the computers and started to get to work looking for Olav. He was determined to find the other hero. They needed to find him if they were ever going to defeat Bedrag and save his friends.

***

Two weeks ago

Olav wipes his eyes and looked around at the destroyed block they had fought Angst on earlier. He knew he had a big clean up job ahead of him. Spotting Logan he slowly stood up and stumbled towards the other hero. Angst must’ve been gone. That explained why they were both lucid now. It wouldn’t be long before Shadow was back to normal as well. He told himself.

“Logic?” He slowed his walking and looked in horror at the site before him. The usually composed and emotionless hero was panicking. He was hovering over Roman, shaking him and slapping his face in an attempt to wake up, but the other man wasn’t responding.

Had Angst killed him while they were all trapped in their minds? In those horrible nightmares he’d created for them? Finding the ability to use his legs again he ran over to the other two men and dropped back to his knees beside them. “What’s going on?”

Logan didn’t respond. He didn’t even seem to notice him. “Logic!” He grabbed the man by his shoulders and shook him.

Blinking, Logan focused on Olav, but just barely. Tears were running down his cheeks and fear was in his eyes. “H-he won’t wake up...”

Olav let go of the the other and checked Roman for a pulse, relaxing a bit when he found one. “Okay, calm down. He’s still alive.” He checked The Prince’s health readouts on his watch and gave Logan a reassuring smile. “He’s physically okay. He probably just passes out from whatever Angst showed him.”

“But he won’t wake up!”

“Logic! Breathe!”

Logan nodded and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.”

“As soon as Shadow wakes up have him wake Prince. I’ll be right back,” he stood up again and started walking in the direction that Angst had come from when they found him during their patrol.

That was the last time Logic saw the other hero. Still in his suit and walking away with determination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not my one of my better chapters. Sorry.


	34. Dr Hayden Falk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: mention of electroshock therapy

Remy and Logan walked into the base, both in full hero costume. The latter of the two sat at the table in the little kitchen and just stared blankly at the surface. This was the first day in a month that anyone had been able to get him away from Roman’s bedside. Despite the heroes Logic and Shadow being MIA, the city had not fallen into total ruin. That was the only thing giving the two hope that wherever Deceit was he was safe.

“H, I brought him,” the detective called into the other room.

The greying scientist made his way into the kitchen and sat at the table with the other two men. “How is The Prince?”

“Stable. He still hasn’t waken up, but he’s still stable,” Logan’s voice was cold and emotionless.

“I promise I’ll find a way to wake him up, Lo.”

“Please... D-don’t call me that.”

“Sorry...”

Hayden cleared his throat and folded his hands on the table. “I think we can save your friends. The ones that Bedrag has. I can recreate the machine that he used to corrupt them.”

“How,” Logan’s head shot up and his eyes fixed on the other man.

“I built it in the first place,” the older man let out a small sigh and removed his glasses. “Deceit told you everything he knew of his capture and his he creation of Bedrag. Correct?” Logan nodded his head and frowned slightly. “I was the scientist that created the machine. I didn’t know that using it on him would have created Bedrag. I didn’t even know that he was not human. We’d had success on humans with powers before. I had no reason to believe that it wouldn’t work on him.”

“How does your machine work?”

“It is not much different than electroshock therapy. It alters the firing of neurons within the brain. The thing is, brains like yours and Shadow’s are different from mine. Physically different. With my machine I am able to see the brain and target the area to send the shock to. This makes sure that a vital system isn’t shut down unintentionally.”

Logan nodded in understanding. “That doesn’t explain how Deceit was split into two different people.”

“I have two theories on that. Both work on the theory that Deceit’s body had a way of regenerating itself. The first is that the trauma of the treatment caused his body to split as a way of preserving itself. The second is that the misfiring triggered a latent power within him that cause him to split and create two copies.”

“What happened to the lab?”

“Bedrag awoke first. He killed my assistants. Had Shadow’s predecessor not have been there I would have died as well.”

“Shadow’s predecessor?” Logan looked from the scientist to the hero.

“I wasn’t the first hero to take on the name Shadow. I inherited the mantel from the hero I trained under. He had the ability to alter memories. Not very useful in a fight, but great at cleanup.”

“Physically he was more than capable of holding his own in a fight. He was also an excellent marksman. He shot an electo bullet at Bedrag, the jolt was low voltage, but it did well to render him unconscious. When Deceit woke up we tried to convince him to kill Bedrag, but he said he couldn’t. He regressed them both. Shadow did his best to alter their memories. But, because of the fact that they are not human it did not hold. We gave them each a new name and helped them shift their forms so that they had human features. We then took them to separate orphanages in Norway. Deceit was adopted by a doctor and her husband from America. Bedrag switched foster homes numerous times and aged out of the system.”

“No one wants to raise a sociopath, babe.”

“He was a child. He could have changed. Deceit was no longer the monster we took into custody.”

“I have to agree with Dr Falk, Shadow. If they were identical it could be theorized that they would both react the same to the treatment.”

Shadow rolled his eyes and remained quiet for a moment. “So you made another machine. How are we going to get Night Storm and The Duke to sit in the chair and let us fry their brains?”

“That’s where I come in, Shadow.”

The three men turned to look at the woman who walked in.


	35. Rebellion

She was wearing a black catsuit with a black domino mask. Unlike Logic’s and Shadow’s masks there were no white lenses in Rebellion’s mask.Her hazel eyes looked over the two heroes and then settled in Hayden.

“Who’s the new guy, Dr Falk?”

“His name is Logic. He is a colleague of Deceit’s. Logic, this is Rebellion.”

Logan stood up and walked over to the woman, extending a hand. “Salutations.”

“Hey, handsome,” she smirked and shook the hand offered to her. Her eyes danced with laughter as she noted the slight pink flush to the other hero’s cheeks. “So, Bedrag is in town. He has hostages and two of them are being manipulated. Am I missing anything?”

“Deceit is missing, and we have a hero in a coma,” Shadow said quietly. “And before you ask I have been trying to wake him for a month now. He’s stuck in his mind.”

“Okay,” Rebellion nodded and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. “First things first. We wake up your friend.”

“He’s in the hospital. And he’s a civilian as far as they know,” Logan stated.

“That’s fine. I know a doctor who owes me a favour. Dr Gry Dacey will be at his room tomorrow. She won’t tell anyone he’s a hero.”

“Dr Dacey? Doesn’t she work in AI and robotics?”

“You’ve heard of her?”

“I have thechnokenesis. I make it a point to know who is in the tech industry and what is going on within it.”

“Then you know she’s used her expertise in the medical field. And her nanotechnology has made quite a bit of progress in neuroscience.”

“I am well aware of that. However, there is no guarantee she can succeed where Shadow hasn’t been able to.”

“Give her a chance, Logic. She’ll save your friend,” she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Now. Once we get your friend—“

“The Prince,” Logan corrected.

“The Prince. Once we get The Prince woken up we’ll find Deceit. I’ve been keeping tabs on the city. Someone has been helping with minor crimes and emergencies. I think it’s probably him.”

“What do we do after that, babe?”

“That depends on what information Deceit has. Most likely we’ll do a bit of recon. You can’t fight an enemy you don’t know.”

“They are my friends. Not our enemies.”

“I understand that, Logic. But, as long as Bedrag is controlling them you can’t think of them as your friends. That will land you in a hole in the ground,” something flashed in her eyes, something that Logan recognizes as regret and guilt. He wanted to ask her about it, but thought better of it. “For now we need to gather all information you have about their powers and their weaknesses. Something might be able to help us weaken them so we can save them.”

“And if nothing works?”

Rebellion looked over at Shadow and squared her shoulders. “If their weaknesses don’t work or prove to be too dangerous then we have my tech.”

“Your tech?”

“Dr Dacey designed my suit and it comes with some fun features.”

“Angst will be our biggest problem. Can your tech help with that?”

“Shadow, put me to sleep,” she stared Logic in the eyes and smirked.

Shadow walked over to Rebellion and placed a hand on her shoulder and whispered “sleep” in her ear. Nothing happened.

“Go to sleep,” he whispered and still she remains wide awake. “How the hell?”

“Nanotechnology. The little boys are in my blood system. I don’t have powers. I wasn’t born special like you two were. I use what I have to do what is right.”

“Had I known this before I never would have let you work with us, girl.”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you, Shadow. So, let’s get to work. Logic, you and Dr Falk are gonna compile a list of weaknesses for your friends. Shadow, you’re gonna tell me what you know about The Prince’s condition. Everything you know.”

The heroes all began to get to work on trying to wake the hero and save the former heroes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rebellion and Dr Gry Dacey are characters I had created for an RP with a friend.


	36. The Prince Awakens

Logan walked into Roman’s hospital room to find a blonde woman leaning over his friend. He carefully closed the door and cleared his throat. The woman stood up straight and gentle hazel eyes locked with cautious dark brown eyes.

“You must be, Logan,” the woman smiled gently at him and extended a hand.

“And you are?” He made no move to shake the offered hand. Skeptical eyes took her appearance in.

“Dr Gry Dacey. I was asked by a friend to check in on your... boyfriend?” She lowered her hand, the gentle smile still on her face.

“No!” Logan took a quick step back, a slight blush staining his cheeks. Was that what the hospital staff thought? Didn’t they watch the news? And couldn’t he have done better than the lug laying unconscious in that hospital bed? He certainly thought he could anyway.

“Sorry,” Dr Dacey chuckled. “I just assumed. I was told you would be here as you hardly ever leave his side.”

“I could’ve been a family member.”

“True. My apologies.”

“Why are you here?”

“I’m going to wake him up.”

Logan raised an eyebrow and sat down in his usual seat. “How?”

“Nanotechnology. I’ve looked over Roman’s MRIs and CT scans. As well as the EEGs. I believe that small, controlled, electrical shocks to amygdala and hippocampus will disrupt the neurological synapses just enough to calm him down so that we can wake him up.”

“He’s in a coma from an anxiety attack?”

“I don’t think so. I think whatever happened while he was asleep sent him into a panic and preventing him from waking up. Though, as a rule we wake up when we are scared in dreams. It’s possible that he may have had a complex partial seizure in his sleep. While his entire brain is active the amygdala and hippocampus seem to be lighting up even more than any other part of his brain. I’m going to send the shocks to those two parts of his brain and we’ll proceed from there.”

Logan nodded his head slightly and turned his attention to Roman. “When will treatment start?”

“I’ve already injected the nanobots into his IV. We just have to wait a couple of hours. I’ll get a ping on my pager when they’ve reached their destination. They were programmed to go straight to the brain. Once they are there I’ll use my laptop to control the current and duration of the shocks. Once he’s awake I’ll deactivate them and he’ll void them.”

“What would happen if they remained in his body?”

“Nothing. Once they’re deactivated they can’t do anything.”

“I see. Could someone reactivate them?”

“No,” Gry frowned and tucked a curl behind her ear. “Why?”

“There’s rumor that one of the villains in town is the hero The Duke. I know we have a hero that can control electronics. I’m just worried if he decides to turn evil what kind of danger that would put Roman in.”

“Don’t worry. Deactivation is a death sentence for my bots. They self destruct with no harm being done to the patient.”

“Well that is certainly reassuring. Would you mind if I asked a few more questions about your technology? If you aren’t busy that is.”

“I’ve got nothing else planned beyond waiting to wake your friend,” she sat down and crossed her legs.

The talked quietly about science and technology for about two hours when a small series of beeps alerted them that the bots had reached their destination.

Gry grabbed her laptop and sat beside Logan, allowing him to watch as she worked on waking up the unconscious actor.

Three hours later a soft groan came from the bed and the two scientists looked up from the screen to the man on the bed. “Go get the doctor, Logan.”

The man nodded and left the room to get Roman’s doctor. Gry walked over to him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, Roman. You’ve been asleep for awhile. I’m going to need you to remain still until your doctor gets here. He’s going to do some observations of your responses and then, if everything checks out, he’ll remove the feeding tube. Okay?”

Roman let out a small groan and nodded his head slightly.

Logan returned with the doctor and bit his lip as he watched the man look over his friend.

***

“Ugh! Two weeks is too long to be in a hospital,” Roman said, stretching his arms over his head as he finally walked out of the back of the building with his friend.

“Actually, it’s been six weeks.”

“I even worse,” he whined. “Has there been any word on the others?”

“No. Olav is missing as well now.”

“What?! Did Bedrag get him?”

“No. According to Rebellion he’s fine and helping out where he can, probably while still trying to find the others.”

“Rebellion. That’s the woman you mentioned that’s going to help us. Right?”

“Affirmative,” Logan turned down an alley and activated his watch. Roman did the same. They both then made their way to the base.


	37. Where Were You F-Word Face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn’t resist.

“Prince...”

Roman and Logan looked up when they heard the former being called. Their eyes widened in shock as they stared at the black and yellow clad hero before them.

“You’re awake. I heard you were... I’m glad you’re awake.”

Roman moves closer to the other hero and bit his lip slightly in thought. “Where the hell were you fuck face?!” He grabbed Deceit by the shoulders to shake him, but his hands went right through the other man.

“I think a better question would be where the hell is he,” Logan stepped forward and examined the hologram.

“There’s no need to worry about that. I got the message from Rebellion that you guys were going to take on Angst and Korrupsjon. Don’t do anything until I get back.”

“Where are you?”

“I can’t tell you. Just know that when I get back we’ll have a better chance at stopping them.”

Roman growled in annoyance and stormed through the hologram and into the base. Deceit watched the other hero storm off and sighed heavily. He then looked over at Logan.

“I cannot say that I do not agree with how The Prince feels at the moment,” he rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Just hurry back. Our team being broken apart like this isn’t right. And it is taking its toll on us.”

“I’ll be back as fast as I can. I promise,” the hologram disappeared, leaving Logan alone in the foyer.

With a sigh the hero made his way down to the base and took a seat beside Roman just as Shadow and Rebellion walked in.

“What’s up, babes?”

“Deceit said for us to not go after the others until he got back,” Roman grumbled.

“What?! That fucking bitch! He’s been gone for over a month! We’re supposed to wait for his ass!”

“Shadow. If Deceit says to wait we’ll wait,” Rebellion walked over to Roman and Logan, giving the latter of the two a small smile before extending her hand to the hero in white. “Rebellion. You must be, The Prince.”

Roman stood up and bowed, taking the offered hand and placing a chaste kiss to the back. “At your service, my lady.”

Rolling her eyes Rebellion took her hand from him and then took his seat beside Logan. “How are you doing, Prince? Up for battle? Because I can guarantee you that this will not be easy or fun.”

“I’ll have you know, I’m near invincible.” Roman puffed out his chest and placed a hand to it.

“Except for when a neuro is involved.”

“A what?” The three men looked at her in confusion.

“A neuro. It’s someone who has powers that can affect your brain activity. Or more specifically the type of power that allows them to do it. Deceit, Bedrag, Angst, and Shadow all have neuro powers. Deceit, Angst, Bedrag, and Korrupsjon also have shift powers. That means they can change, or shift, their physical forms. Heart is a projector. He can project his powers on others to alter their physical being. Such powers can be used to disguise or heal others.”

“What about Logic and I?”

“Logic is a mental and a tech. Not only can he control things with his mind, but he can also learn whatever he wants through technology.”

“Anyone can do that.”

“Not like our boy Logic here can. He could reverse engineer Dr Falk’s machine just by looking at it. I think that’s why Bedrag blocked him,” she tucked her hair behind her ear and smirked. “As for you, Prince. You’re an involuntary. You don’t have to activate your powers. They’re just there. Always on. Like breathing or blinking. You don’t have to think about it you just do it.”

“What would you fall under, Rebellion?”

“Oh, that’s easy, Logic. I’m a cyborg.”

“I’m sorry. What?”

“A cyborg. I don’t have powers. I was born normal. I had an accident and with the help of some tech and a lot of training I became a hero. I’ve got some tech parts, but I’m mostly human. I’m a cyborg.”

Logan looked her over, very intrigued by this new information.

“Keep your eyes in your head tech boy. I’m taken.”

The hero blushed bright red and stumbled over his words as he tried to assure Rebellion that he was not looking at her in that manner. This only serves to make the heroine laugh.

“Anyway,” Shadow clapped his hands. “How do we take care of our situation with our new villains and get these heroes back?”

“Right. Deceit is getting some tech for me to help with that.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“I spoke with Dr Dacey after she woke Prince here, without the help of true love’s first kiss, and she told me about his EEGs and other tests. So, I figured we could use the nano tech in Prince’s and Logic’s suits to protect them from Angst’s words.”

“What about Deceit and Shadow?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know if it’ll work for them without interfering with their powers.”

“But it won’t interfere with Logic’s?

“That’s why we’re using the tech already in his suit. It shifts frequencies accordingly to not be affected by his powers.”

“How do you know this?”

“I helped Deceit write the code. Now. Stop asking questions and listen.”

***

After three hours of planning and four days of training, Roman was starting to get restless. Just when he was about to give up and go find Virgil on his own the door to the base opened and in walked Dr Falk with Deceit.

The hero walked over to Rebellion and handed her a flash drive. “The next time you send me off to grab something for you and don’t give me exact directions I’m beating you in the head with whatever it is I’m getting for you.”

“Love you too, Slimy boy. Logic, you’re first,” she led the other hero to the computer room so that she could update the nanotechnology in his suit. About two hours later she sent him back and called for The Prince so she could do the same with his suit.

“Let’s see what we’ve got here,” Rebellion walked back into the room with Roman, rubbing her hands together. “Deceit. Tell Logic to deactivate his watch and reveal himself to us.”

Hesitantly the hero walked over to his friend and used his powers to instruct him to reveal his identity. Nothing happened. He was instructed to do the same with the other hero and again, nothing happened. Rebellion then told Shadow to attempt to put the two to sleep, and again they were unaffected.

“This is quite satisfactory,” Logan smiled slightly.

“Are we sure this will protect us against Angst?”

“Yup. You guys are perfectly safe.”


	38. Final Showdown?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Poorly written fight scene

“Duke! Stop this!” Roman drew his sword and sliced through the tentacle that was wrapped around Rebellion’s throat. Logan ran to catch her before she hit the ground.

“Thanks,” she rubbed her throat as she stood up with the hero’s help. “Shit, I lost track of Angst.”

“He couldn’t have gotten far.”

“Watch out,” Rebellion pushes Logan out of the way as Roman went flying by them, flight like a rag doll by one of Remus’ tentacles.

The mustaches villain cackled as his twin slowly stood up, rubbing the back of his head and glaring daggers at him before charging in.

“Bitch, hold still!” Deceit yelled from across the street as he tried to hold his own against Virgil who was phasing in and out of sight. Rebellion ran over to help the hero while Logan went to assist Roman with Remus.

Shadow lay on top of a near by building, a laptop open and hooked up to a camera. He was recording and analyzing Virgil’s movements. While the other heroes fought the villain in purple he set up his sniper rifle and loaded an electro bullet in it. He needed to time his shot just right to hit the other man before he could turn invisible again. “Where’d he go,” the hero mumbled to himself, looking over at the laptop screen. He was about to look through the scope again when he was grabbed up by the back of his suit.

“Korrupsjon!”

Before Shadow or any of the other heroes could register what was going on a tentacle shot out of a portal that had opened mid-air and grabbed the hero, pulling him in before disappearing.

“Well, that went according to plan,” Deceit said, terror in his eyes.

“Certainly it did not!” Logic dodged out of the way of another tentacle and sent a car crashing into Remus. The rifle Shadow had set up flew off the roof and into Deceit’s chest. “First chance you get shoot him.”

“I don’t—“ he had to dodge a punch that Angst nearly landed against his temple. “Fuck,” the hero took off running.

Rebellion grabbed Logan and pulled him to a secluded area. “Open your control panel on your watch. Quickly.”

The hero did as he was told and watched as the woman beside him accessed Olav’s watch and made a few quick changes to the code.

“Deceit!”

“Kinda busy running for my life! What is it?” He stopped short and changed directions when Virgil appeared in front of him. He was really getting sick and tired of the cat and mouse game.

“Take the bullet out of the rifle. Your suit will create a pistol for you. It’ll be easier to fire with him on you like that.”

Deceit managed to retrieve the two bullets that Shadow had loaded into the firearm before tossing it aside. He pressed a button on his watch and loaded the bullets into the magazine that materialized in his hand before pressing another button and loading it into the 9mm he was now holding. He stopped short once again and took aim at Virgil.

“Back the fuck up, Virgil. I don’t want to have to do this.”

Angst smirked and took a step closer to Deceit. Rebellion was yelling in his ear for him to take the shot. He moved his finger to the trigger. There was a loud bang and his body was sent flying to the side. It took a split second for him to realize he’d been knocked over by Roman. The other hero had been fighting Korrupsjon and must have been thrown again.

The two heroes got up and watched as Virgil fell to the ground unconscious as the electrical current stopped coursing through his body. Roman ran towards the unconscious man, but wasn’t fast enough as Remus got to him first and opened another portal before retreating with Virgil through it.

“Fuck!”

“Prince, calm down. Logic is downloading the information from the camera now. We’ll get them back.”

Roman turned on Rebellion and glared at her. “And what about Shadow?”

“We’ll save him too.”

***

Patton helped Remus get Virgil into his room and onto his cot. While he felt horrible about what was happening to his friends he could express any emotions. Whatever Bedrag has done to him had trapped him in his body. He wanted to scream but he couldn’t.

“Heal him,” the snake like man hissed.

“There is no injury to heal,” Patton’s voice was flat and emotionless.

“He’s right. They used the same type of bullet they used on me that time. It just knocked him out.”

Bedrag looked to Remus and gave a stiff nod. “Very well.” He walked out of Virgil’s room, Remus and Patton following him. “Decccciet sssseemsss to sssstill be determined to take me down. I think it’sssss time we break him completely,” Bedrag shifted his form so that he resembled a mirror image of Olav once again. “It’s your time to shine, Patton.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was not the intended 38th chapter. But, I couldn’t bring myself to write an entire chapter of Remus tormenting a city and making sexual puns. There will be a note at the beginning of the next chapter explaining the other reason why I needed to cut the chapter.


	39. Patton

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going to be written in first person. The POV will be stated at the beginning of each part. This is a sad chapter. It was originally gonna be the last chapter of the book, but I wanted the last chapter to have a little bit of closure. I’m sorry in advance.
> 
> Warnings: Blood, death

Patton:

I left the base with Bedrag. Not that I really had a choice in the matter. He had control over me. Ever since Virgil arrived it was like I was watching my body act without me. It scared me so much. And then when Remus came... it was like something inside me snapped.

“Patton.”

I looked up to see Bedrag handing me my watch. I hadn’t seen the device since he had strapped me to that chair and promised to stop hurting me if I took it off. He’d lied.

“I want you to take this and activate it. Send out a distress signal. When your friends come you are to deactivate it.”

I nodded numbly. I knew this was a trap. I didn’t want to see anyone get hurt. But, I couldn’t stop myself from doing as I was told.

***

Logan:

We were all sitting in the base trying to figure out how we could save not only Patton, Virgil, and Remus, but also Remy. It had been several hours since our battle with the two villains that had once been our friends.

Roman was talking with Olav about a possible game plan. Rebellion and I were quietly going over the video footage with Hayden. We were all engrossed in what we were doing when our watches sounded an alarm. Roman, Olav and I looked at each other and then at our watches.

“Patton...” I’m not sure who said his name, but I knew we were all thinking the same thing when we saw the blip. Our friend was alive.

“This could be a trap,” Roman’s voice shook slightly. He was saying what we all knew. Though none of us wanted to believe it.

***

Roman:

“I don’t care. If there’s even a small chance that we can get him back we are taking it.”

I looked at Logan in shock. I expected those words to come from my mouth. Or even Deceit’s. Never from the man who always had to run through a plan at least twice before he was satisfied with it.

“We can take our chances I suppose. There’s still four of us. Deceit still has a bullet. And you’re pretty hard to take down. Rebellion is pretty good at planning on the spot.”

“Are you trying to convince us or yourself, Prince?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then,” Rebellion rose from her seat beside Logan. “Let’s go save a Heart.”

***

Patton:

I watched in horror as my friends, and a woman I had never met before arrived. Deactivating my watch I took it off and handed it to Bedrag who was still disguised at Olav.

In the time it took them to arrive Virgil had woken up and he and Remus were standing with us.

All I could do was silently pray that my friends won this battle and saved us. The woman looked like she would be a nice new friend as well.

“Let them go, Bedrag,” Olav stepped forward and stared down his doppelgänger. “If you let them go I’ll go with you. We can fix what they did to us. We can be... whole again.”

No, Olav. No. Don’t do that. Bedrag told me how you were. You’ve come so far. Please don’t.

“I don’t think so,” Bedrag chuckled. “Want to see you broken, Deceit. And what better way to do that than to make you watch your friends being hurt by you.”

There was a loud bang and a sharp pain in the back of my head before everything went dark.

***

Olav:

I watched in horror as the man wearing my face pulled out a gun and shot Patton point-blank in the back of the head. The older man’s face seemed not to register anything, but I saw the quick flash of fear in his eyes before his lifeless body fell to the ground.

He killed him. I killed him. Patton was dead and it was my fault. My fault because I couldn’t kill that part of me twenty years ago.

I heard someone yelling Patton’s name, but it felt so far away. So distant. Bedrag said something. I know he did. I saw his lips moving. I watched as he turned to leave. Remus went with him, cackling. Virgil on the other hand. Virgil didn’t move. He stared at the body on the ground before us. At Logan kneeling beside the body, cradling it in his arms and crying and covered in blood and brain matter. At Roman beside him.

***

Virgil:

He killed him. He killed Patton. I didn’t... I didn’t know he would do that. I didn’t know. Something cracked. His hold slipped. I could hear Bedrag telling Remus and I to come with him. I didn’t move though. I could resist. Remus couldn’t though. As he walked past me, cackling I caught a glimpse of the pain and fear in his eyes. He was still in there.

I felt hands grip my shoulders. Someone was shaking me and calling my name, but my eyes couldn’t focus.

“Breathe, Virgil!”

“Breathe!”

Was I not breathing? My head was swimming. I could feel the rise and fall of my chest. I was breathing, but something was off. Suddenly my body fell limp and everything went dark.


	40. Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Giving fair warning that there is mention of death and a funeral in this chapter. Also, I can’t guarantee that it will be of the best quality as my anxiety meds don’t agree with my creativity.

Virgil lay unconscious in the new base. He’d been through a lot and had been asleep for two days now. Hayden assured Logan and Roman that once the hero woke up he would assess him before starting on treatment. If there was no need for the machine they wouldn’t use it. There was no point in traumatizing the musician any more than he’d already been.

Logan spent most of his time with Emile, planning Patton’s funeral. Rebellion had offered to contact Dr Dacey and have try and preserve Patton in a synthetic body so no one would know. Logan has refused. He knew Emile would know the difference and he didn’t want to do that to the older man.

Olav disappeared again. But not the way he had done last time. He kept his watch on him so that the others could contact them if they needed him.

Roman sat by Virgil’s bed as the shorter man slept. He was glad to have his boyfriend back. He was morning the loss of Patton. He feared for Olav’s sanity. They had all watch Bedrag, disguised as Olav, pull the trigger that ended Patton’s life. And, Roman was fairly certain that it had to have hurt Olav the most out of all of them. The face he’d used for years, smirking as he killed the nurse. Laughing as the lifeless body hit the ground. Walking off with Remus.

“Princey?”

Roman was snapped out of his downward spiral of thoughts as his name was called. Blinking he looked down at Virgil and gave him a small smile. “Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. How are you feeling?”

“Horrible,” he sat up slowly and ran a hand through his hair. “I remember everything.” His voice cracked and the princely hero could see tears forming in the corner of his eyes. “I hurt so many people. I hurt you. I hurt Lo. I hurt Olav. I hurt people I didn’t even know! And Patton... oh god, Patton...” he couldn’t hold the tears anymore and they fell.

Roman pulled the other man close and held him tightly. One hand holding his head and the other rubbing small circles in the small of his back.

“The funeral will be held tomorrow.”

The two men looked over to see Logan standing in the doorway. He was wearing his suit, but did not have his mask on, beside him stood Rebellion with a look of guilt on her face.

“Your mask, Logic.”

“It’s okay. I umm... I know your identities,” Rebellion reached a hand up, that’s when Roman noticed that she and Logan were holding hands, and removed her mask.

“You’re the doctor from the hospital. When I woke up,” Roman looked at her in shock.

“Yup. You can call me, Gry. Anyway. It seems my coding had a kink in it.”

“Neither of us could have planned for something like that, Dr Dacey. How were we to know that Bedrag would have used them that way?”

“What’s going on? What did I do?”

“It wasn’t you, Virgil. When Bedrag captured Patton he didn’t deactivate his watch before putting him in the machine. It fired some of the circuitry and corrupted the data. If I’d made my code a bit stronger this wouldn’t have happened. It would have self destructed when damaged like that. But I didn’t. And it didn’t.”

“Bedrag uploaded a virus that spread to all of our watches when Patton activates his. It downloaded our information. He knows everything about us and so does Dr Dacey.”

“Shit,” Roman and Virgil spoke at the same time and the room fell silent.

They were screwed.

***

Six men carried a baby blue casket out of the church and down the steps. Deep purple bangs fell into the eyes of one of the men as black streaks ran down his cheeks, tears running through messily applied eyeshadow. Two with glasses askew from violently rubbing at tears. One with a vacant expression and eyes filled with guilt. One sporting a black eye and a grimace. And, one, and older man, known to only four of the others.

They carried the box that was much too heavy to just be holding a man with a heart so light and a smile that could lift the spirits of all those around, to the cemetery at the back of the church.

Tears fell as the casket was lowered into the ground. A ground that was too cold for someone whose hugs were so warm. Whose eyes held so much love.

Dirt filled the hole. Sealing away their friend. Sealing away their brother. Skin that would never feel the warmth of the summer sun again.

Virgil had insisted that Patton be buried with his glasses and his favorite stuffed animal. Roman had placed a copy of the script from the high school play they had met during in the casket with his friend. Logan made sure the other had been dressed in his favorite outfit, not a stuffy suit. The cat hoodie he so adored wrapped around his shoulders.

Everyone quietly left the cemetery. Roman with his arm wrapped around a crying Virgil. A woman with hazel eyes helped Logan as he walked with Emile, crying inconsolably. The older man stayed behind with Olav. Both stared silently at the marble heart marking the nurse’s grave.

_Patton Picani_

_Loving brother, amazing friend_

_A heart given so freely, a life taken too soon_

“I’m going to end this, Hayden,” Olav slowly shifted his form, no longer able to bear owning the face that took his friend’s life.

“I know you will,” the older man placed a gentle hand in the other’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Olav knelt down in front of the grave and placed a small porcelain kitten on the base of the marker. “Goodbye.”


End file.
